Summer Nights
by riveras
Summary: AU – Really, a summer fling is the best type of romance to have, according to Ally Dawson. — AustinAlly.
1. prologue

**a/n:** this is what happens when you watch _Camp Rock, Austin & Ally_, and _Grease_ within a five hour time frame. I own nothing. This is mostly AU but I have bits of canon—characters and relationships and whatnot—and no matter how dallas/ally the first few chapters may seem—AUSTINxALLY is endgame. ;)

**summary:** AU – Ally Dawson is less than pleased when she has to spend the summer with her estranged dad, but what happens when she finds friendship, music, and maybe a little more. —- AustinAlly / DezTrish

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Summer Nights  
AustinAlly / DezTrish

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"_when adults say, "teenagers think they are invincible" with that sly, stupid smile on their faces, they don't know how right they are. we need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken. we think that we are invincible because we are. we cannot be born, and we cannot die. like all energy, we can only change shapes and sizes and manifestations. they forget that when they get old. they get scared of losing and failing. but that part of us greater than the sum of our parts cannot begin and cannot end, and so it cannot fail."_

— **looking for alaska** ; john green

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**Ally**

Her life was over. Fifteen years young with a future in song writing and a smile on her face and stars in her smile. All of that, it seemed was over when her mother uttered the fateful words. "You're going to visit you father this summer, Ally, in Miami." Ally's rose glossed lips fell open in horror as she gaped at her mother.

"But, mom!" Ally began, her brown eyes searching for any sign of laughter in her mother's eyes_. Please, just please let it be a joke_—"I can't go! Dallas just asked me to be his girlfriend—and if I'm gone for a whole summer, then Tilly will be all over him for sure! She's been out to ruin my life since kindergarten—"

Her mother held up a firm hand, "If he falls so easily into the arms of another girl, Ally, that just means he wasn't worth it in the first place. No arguments. Pack your bags, we leave on Tuesday." Ally stuck out her lower lip, looking to the entire world like she wanted to argue, but without saying a word, she stomped out of the kitchen to her room, making sure to slam the door as hard as she could, leaving Irma Daniels at the _kitchen_ table, staring blankly at her full cup of coffee.

"I can't _believe this_!" Ally grumbled to herself. Throughout her teenage years, she had never been one for melodrama, but these were special circumstances. This was a travesty! It seemed that her mother actually _was_ trying to ruin her life—or her teenage years, anyway.

Moodily glancing out the window at the summer California sunshine, which seemed to be a mockery of her feelings, she once again sighed, wondering how she was going to break the news to her new boyfriend—they hadn't yet made it official, but they'd gone on a few dates—Dallas, who, yesterday, was raving about trips to the beach and Disneyland and their first summer together.

She glanced at the clock, scowling. "Where is my phone?" she mumbled, more to herself than to anyone else. Dallas's older brother, coincidentally named Adrian—she supposed that their parents had a fondness for the state of Texas—was to pick her up in front of their modest two-story home in ten minutes. Spotting it atop the dresser, she stood in front of the full-length mirror for one more once-over—a light mauve dress cinched with a wide belt and a vest—and walked downstairs, avoiding her mother who stood in the doorway, talking with her boyfriend, Phil.

"Hey, Ally-gator," Phil said in his usual joking tone, apparently unaware of the tension between the two females. "Last few days of school—just tough it out." Ally nodded, forcing her lips into a smile. She liked Phil, she really did; he was a great father-substitute but had never made it seem like he was trying to replace her own father, who had moved across the country three years prior, just after the divorce.

Before Ally had a chance to reply, there was a honk outside, and she turned to see Adrian and Dallas, along with Adrian's girlfriend, Heather, crammed in the car. "Bye, mom, bye, Phil." Ally hurriedly kissed them both on the cheek and flounced out to meet the inhabitants of the car.

"Hey, Alls," Dallas said, flashing his signature crooked grin that made her heart pound. She detested the nickname, but had never told him that because; a nickname was a nickname, right?

"Hey, Ally," Adrian nodded and Heather offered her a small smile.

Ally sat in the back seat, trying to absorb that she was actually here, sitting inches away from her crush, who seemed to like her back. It was almost absurd—they were completely different social circles: he the popular jock with the bitchy head cheerleader ex-girlfriend, and she the shy music player, who sang in washrooms and never auditioned for the school play. But then suddenly, they had to work together on a physics project, and—quite literally—sparks flew.

"So, I was thinking," Dallas was saying to Adrian, "We should have a school's out party or something."

"Cool," Adrian nodded. "I'll see what I can do, have a date in mind?" He sent a roguish wink to Ally, who blushed but also noticed that Dallas neither denied that nor did he look embarrassed. They were silent for the rest of the car tip, Ally avoiding Dallas' eye. Whether by accident, every time Adrian turned a corner, Ally ended up on his lap, blushing and apologizing and shooting the elder brother dirty looks.

When they arrived at the school, the four of them fell out of the car and began heading their separate ways. "Thanks for the ride," Ally said to Dallas, smiling.

"No problem. Better than the bus, right?"

Ally giggled in response. "Look at what she's wearing," a snide voice stage-whispered. Ally rolled her eyes, knowing who it was even before she turned around: Tilly Thompson, who had despised her since Kindergarten, was laughing with her brainless cheerleader minions. "I mean, what is this? 1984?" The girls shrieked with amusement as Ally rolled her eyes, the comments had long ceased to even bother her, Dallas glanced at her sympathetically but Ally rolled her eyes, wondering why he wouldn't just stand up for her.

"—he only hangs around her because he feels bad that she's such a freak, you know," Tilly's right hand bitch, Taylor, said in a matter-of-fact voice. Dallas looked apologetic but Ally scowled. That was low, even for them. Her fingers clenched, but she felt a small pressure on the small of her back and remembered –_ this is what they want. Dallas chose me and she's jealous_.

"I have to go put my sheet music in my locker," Ally said, sick of these girls and their holier-than-thou attitudes. "See you later?"

"Yeah," Dallas said but she'd already started walking. Her mind filled with Tilly and Dallas and _TillyandDallas_ –

"Hey, Dawson, you look happy this fine morning," her friend Lucy said as Ally stomped towards her locker, murder in her eyes. "Tilly and the bimbos?" Lucy's glass-green eyes focused on Dallas, who was looking at Ally with some trepidation.

"Who else?" Ally sighed, opening her locker to see a picture of four girls—Lucy, Ally, and their fellow band geeks, Hannah, Rachel—with their arms around each other at band camp the previous year. She couldn't believe that she wouldn't see her friends this year – her mother was definitely ruining her life.

Seeing the sudden look of sadness on Ally's face, Lucy narrowed her eyes. "It's more than Tilly. Spill."

"I'm going to visit my dad," Ally began after a moment when seemed like eternity. Lucy's eyes brightened.

"Oh, well that sucks. Will you be back in time for camp? Oh God—" Lucy's eyes widened as she noted Ally's expression. "The _whole _summer?"

"I know!" Ally shrieked attracting the attention of several passing seniors. "Shh," she said unnecessarily. "I think she hates me."

"Your mom?" Lucy raised an eyebrow. "More like she's 'trying to do what's best for you'. Have you told Dallas?"

"No, I—" Ally began but her face turned bloodless.

"Told me what?" Dallas asked from behind Lucy, making her jump. "What is it, Ally? Is it why you were so quiet in the car? Look, if you don't like me I can –" Lucy rolled her eyes at his theatrics; to be honest, she'd never really liked him.

"I'm going to Florida—for the summer, I mean—to spend time with my dad," Ally finally managed to gasp out. "All summer."

"When do you leave?" Dallas said, avoiding her eye.

"Tuesday."

"That's less than a week away! Ally, you should have told me!"

"Well," Ally snapped. "Excuse me for thinking that you'd be angry. I'm _so_ sorry I wanted to spare your feelings—" Ally turned around to stomp away, sure that all eyes in the hallway were on her.

"Wait, Alls"—Lucy rolled her eyes at the idiotic nickname—"I'm sorry, okay? You're really awesome and I don't want you to be mad at me." Ally froze but still didn't turn around.

"I just found out this morning," Ally said finally, when it looked like Dallas had lost the ability to speak.

"Look—" he leaned closer to Ally and she could smell him—he smelled like summer nights and dark cologne in a sophisticated bottle and her hear lodged itself in her throat. "I just don't want you falling head-over-heels for some idiotic Florida beach boy, okay? Promise me we'll skype every day."

"Of course," Ally said quietly.

"Cool," he slung an arm around her shoulder and the two of them marched down the hallway, the crowd parting like the Red Sea did for Moses.

Tilly, it seemed, was absolutely furious that there could have almost been a Dallyson break-up and scowled, pushing people out of the way to get to the exit. Only then, it seemed, did people realize that class was starting in five minutes.

Lucy stayed where she was, though, because she'd seen the look on Tilly's face – it was the same look she'd worn right before she 'accidentally' broke Becca Mason's arm in the third grade. She was out for blood.

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**Austin**

Austin Moon was annoyed. No, he was past being annoyed. He was annoyed when his friend Trish decided to sell his guitars to buy an iPad – which she then broke almost immediately – he was annoyed when his other friend, Dez, had told his seventh grade crush, Tanya Wilders, that Austin kissed a picture of her before he went to sleep every night. No, Austin Moon was _beyond _annoyed. He was _furious_. "Why can't you do something else, son? All you do is sit around all day doing covers of songs. What are you, Justin Bieber?" Norman Moon laughed at what he clearly thought was an amusing joke, not knowing how much the comment hurt his son.

The two loved each other, and spent time together – often fishing or playing football – but if there was one thing Norman couldn't understand, well, it was Austin's passion for music. Having been a failed musician in his youth, he did his best to dissuade Austin from a musical career path—all to no avail. It was the largest source of tension between the two otherwise loving father and son. "Fine, dad," Austin snapped, finally sick of his father's jabs. "I'm going to see Trish and Dez – maybe go to Dairy Queen." Norman nodded, silent.

As he pulled on his Converse shoes, he wondered what it'd be like to have a dad that supported his musical career. As he pulled open the door, the doorbell rang and he was face-to-face with his two best friends: Dez and Trish.

Austin and Dez had been friends since they were in pre-school and Austin had dared Dez to eat a whole tube of toothpaste—and Dez actually went through with it. Somewhere between then and now, Trish had also joined the group with her sharp jabs, quick tongue, and ability to get fired from any pace of employment within twenty-four hours. "Hey, loser," Trish said as a customary form of greeting. "Clown-face and I were wondering if you wanted to go to DQ with us." Ignoring Dez's affronted face, she elbowed her way in.

"Sure, but can we stop at Sonic Boom first?" Austin wondered. "I need new strings for my guitar."

The three of them lived in a small suburb of Miami and spent a large amount of time at the mall—where Trish had surprisingly, managed not to be fired from every job there. Yet. "Oh, guess who got a job at the Pickle Farm?"

"My great-aunt Lorraine?" Dez asked seriously. Trish caught Austin's eye and they both doubled over with laughter. This was part of the reason that they kept Dez around.

"You guys can wait out here if you want," Austin suggested. He walked into Sonic Boom, hearing the faint jingling bell that alerted Lester Dawson to his presence.

"Oh, hello, Austin!" Lester offered the blond a tired smile. "The strings you ordered last week, I presume?" Austin nodded and waited, watching various couples and customers loitering around the store, occasionally picking up an instrument or so.

"You look tired," Austin observed when Lester returned. "You should rest. Or hire more workers."

"Actually, my daughter is coming for the summer—she'll be here starting next week—but you're right. I was planning on putting up an ad in the newspaper, but since you're in here so often, would you like the job?"

The answer was a no-brainer to Austin: he could make money, get a discount on items, and spend time with the one thing he loved most – music. And his dad couldn't even complain. "Sure!"

"Great," Lester smiled, as if he was going to do anything else. "You can do your orientation on Monday – even though you probably know this store like the back of your hand!"

Austin laughed, paid for the strings and walked out the door. "Hey, why'd you take so long?" Trish asked. "You guys were talking."

"Guess who got a job at Sonic Boom!" he imitated Trish and she smacked his arm. Hard.

"Whatever. Let's go get us some blizzards!" Twenty minutes later, the three of them sat squished into a Dairy Queen booth, Dez and Trish on one side, and Austin on the other.

"Thank God school's over!" Trish declared, staring up at the heavens. "Summer time!" Since they had turned 13, their summers had usually been spent the same way – a few weeks lounging on the beach, pool parties, camping trips, and – the crowning glory – a week in Dez's uncle's cottage in the middle of a classic Florida swamp. This time, however, he felt like it was going to be different. Not bad – just different, and he had a feeling that it had to do with Sonic Boom.

Trish, by now, had finished her own blizzard and was sneaking bits of Dez's when he pretended that he wasn't looking and Austin felt a pang of jealousy – despite knowing both of them for years—"Too many years!" Trish wold joke—he felt that he was missing something whenever she'd steal his food and he'd let her—she's the only one he'd ever allow to—or when they bickered. There was something else there, something underneath the fighting. Something that he was missing.

"We'd better get home," Austin said suddenly as a flash of the burning orange Florida sun streaked across their table.

As the trio walked home—with Dez and Trish arguing, of course, over Zaliens 1 vs Zaliens 2—Austin couldn't fight the feeling that he was in for an interesting summer.

"'Night, guys!" he called as they approached his house. He began walking up the driveway. "Beach tomorrow?"

"What else?" Trish called back.

"Hey, son," Norman clapped Austin on the back as he entered the house.

"Dad, guess what?" Austin blurted out.

"What?" Austin's mother, a petite blonde woman with piercing blue eyes named Stephanie, asked.

"I have a job."

"Congrats, son!" Norman smiled. "Where?"

"Sonic Boom," Austin said innocently and he watched the smile slip off his father's face. "Lester Dawson needed more employees and he offered me the job—"

"I think it's a great opportunity, Austin!" Stephanie beamed. "_Right_, Norm?" She sent a pointed glare at her husband.

"Right, Steph," Norman sounded like he'd just swallowed a snail. "Well, good night." He hurriedly exited the room.

"Don't mind him," Stephanie said idly. "He's just been so cautious since he – " she stopped midsentence, leaving Austin hanging. "No," she shook her head as if to clear it. "No, I promised I wouldn't. Good night, Austin. Get some rest."

Austin sighed, frustrated. He had been so sure that he would have found out the big earth-shattering secret on why his father was so reluctant to let him follow his musical dreams. "Good night, mom."

That was his goal for the summer – to find out exactly what his dad's opinions on his career choice were and _why_.

But maybe, just maybe, he'd find something—or someone—that was even more important.

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Review, please? How was the prologue? Yes, I know they haven't met yet, but they will next chapter, I promise—and did you like the Drish and the DallasTilly and DezTrishAustin friendship? Trust me—DallasAlly will not last, I'm planning a spectacular breakup.

**REVIEWS = UPDATES**

Please do not favourite/alert without reviewing!

Madeline (overstreets)


	2. i

**a/n:** thank you for all the favourites, alerts, reviews and general support for this fanfiction! Here's the first official chapter! Also, I've never lived in either Florida or California – I'm Canadian – so I had to do research on flights and stuff, so if it's not true then I'm sorry, okay?

Please don't alert or favourite without leaving a review, methinks.

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Chapter One: First Impressions

"_from the very beginning— from the first moment, i may almost say— of my acquaintance with you, your manners, impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others, were such as to form the groundwork of disapprobation on which succeeding events have built so immovable a dislike; and i had not known you a month before i felt that you were the last man in the world whom i could ever be prevailed on to marry."_

— **pride and prejudice** ; jane austen

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**Ally**

She hated airports. Just the feel of being trapped in a place with millions upon millions of other people, and the fact that your life was in someone else's hands—well, just the idea scared her, more than she was willing to admit. On Monday night, the day before her flight to Miami, Ally Dawson curled up on the couch next to her mother and Phil, who were chattering about some air crash that had happened the previous week. Her stomach clenched as she thought of being above the ground, thousands of feet, and away from any humans that she knew, quite possibly helpless—

"Ally, darling, are you okay?" Irma asked suddenly, noticing that her daughter had gone white. Phil, who seemed to have a sixth sense for telling people's emotions, sighed.

"Don't you worry, Ally-gator, the flight is only about four hours long," he shot what was meant to be a comforting smile at the teenager, but it still didn't seem to alleviate the tension that Ally had been feeling.

"_Only_ four hours!" Ally said sarcastically, rolling her eyebrows. "Yay!"

"Allyson Dawson," her mother interrupted, fixing the raven-haired teenager with a dirty look that made Ally shift uncomfortably. "Look, I know that this isn't the ideal way to spend your summer, but you haven't really connected with your father, not since the divorce—"

"It's not that I haven't wanted to connect with him – it's that _he _doesn't want to connect with _me_!" Ally protested, raising her arms in defence.

"Lester was always a bit of a recluse," Irma couldn't help but quirk her lips upwards at her daughter, who's stoic demeanor softened almost imperceptibly. "But still, he's your father – you're a lot more like him than you think, you know."

Ally stared at her mother, shocked. It was the first time since the divorce that her mother had truly opened up about her father; it was slightly terrifying – but also refreshing. "Mom—"

"Where do you think you get your musical talent from?" Irma laughed – a real one for once. She looked at her daughter's stunned expression. "You two were the little divas in the house, I remember on Karaoke night – yes, we had a Karaoke machine – you two would always do duets while I took pictures—" Phil and Ally glanced at each other, before promptly breaking out into peals of laughter. "But it was us. Ever since we divorced, we haven't done anything like that, and I'll admit I didn't want you to become . . . like him, he was always so irresponsible—" Irma coughed, stopping herself from going on a tangent. "—anyway, I didn't want you to grow up and resent me for not having a relationship with your father, so please, just try."

Ally paused.

"Look, Ally, how about one week? Go for at least one week – and if you hate it so much, then I'll buy you a return ticket within 24 hours, how's that?"

Ally paused, how could she refuse that? "Sure, mom." Her mother reached out a hand and, pulling a comb out of nowhere, began brushing her daughter's curls, something she hadn't done for at least half a decade. Ally sighed, trying to find the silver lining in all this. At the very least, she'd get a new song out of it—after all, that's what she lived for, and she was _Ally Dawson_ and one summer in Florida wouldn't kill her, right? She leaned her head on her mom's shoulder, visions of sunsets and beaches and friends overcoming her senses – but this time, it wasn't Lucy and Dallas she was thinking of. No, it was a lot of new people.

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Phil must have carried her to her room last night, she reasoned when she awoke to find the scorching California sun slowly inching its way across her room. She stayed still for a moment, savouring the quiet because despite saying that she'd give it a chance the previous night, she'd still much rather spend the summer here – she hated the unknown, it was scary and she was unprepared, but if there was one thing she hated more than being unprepared, it was waking up early. She began to chew on her hair, a bad habit that she was trying to break, to no avail. "Ally, are you awake?" Irma's voice drilled into her mind. "Wake up, hon, you've got a long day ahead of you."

"I'm up, mom," Ally called back, her words sounding like a garbled mess. "What's for breakfast?"

"Pancakes," her mom called back. "Hurry up and get dressed."

Sighing, Ally got up from the warm cocoon of her bed and began probing through assorted dresses and skirts, searching for the perfect one that could represent her to the rest of the world. Finally, she settled on a yellow sundress with a short denim jacket – perfect for sleeping on the plane—not that she would, lest there be any creepers near her—but also good to be seen in public with, she hoped. "I could really go for a pickle about now," she mumbled to herself, thinking of her favourite food, slathered in peanut butter.

She was brushing her hair when she heard a light _ping!_ coming from her phone. It was a text from Dallas. Heart pumping, she read the message.

**[10:23AM]DallyBoy15: **r u leaving 2day? im going 2 miss u.

She grimaced at the appalling spelling and grammar, which had somehow ruined the message for her. Frowning, she turned her phone off and traipsed downstairs, where her frazzled looking mother was flipping pancakes like a possessed demon. "Hey, mom."

"Hi, Ally, dear, you'd better start eating, we have to be at the airport soon," Irma grimaced. "Security these days takes forever."

"Do we—"

"In the left cupboard," her mother replied before Ally could finish her plea for pickles. Ally grabbed the jar, pulling out a crisp pickle, while her mother wrinkled her nose, pretending not to notice.

Breakfast was a quick and tense affair, with Irma checking her watch every few seconds and Ally's mind running through thousands of different possibilities of what could happen when she finally saw her father again – _what if he doesn't recognise me? What if I don't recognise him? What if he hates pickles?_ The last one made her visibly shudder, and she was glad when her mother gave up the pretense of enjoying her pancakes and told Ally to grab her bags.

Ally climbed into the passenger seat of her mom's sleek Lincoln, breathing in the familiar scent on pinecones and a boreal forest, trying to calm her racing heart. Her mother also seemed to be having second thoughts on all this, but it was too late.

When they arrived at the airport, they managed to get through security without traumatising Ally _too_ much, and the two females sat in the departure area, both trying to think of how they felt and trying to put up a brave front for the other – not that it seemed to be fooling the other, anyway. Finally, after an infinity that can only be described as anxiety-filled, the monotone female voice called out, "Boeing 767 flight to Miami International Airport –"

"Mom," Ally sighed, "I'll miss you so much, I'll call you every day and Skype and Facebook – you know what that is, right? – and –"

"Honey," Irma cracked her first genuine smile all morning. "Calm down, dear. I love you and I'll miss you – and yes, I know what Facebook is! I wasn't born in the Stone Age! Now you'd better go, you don't want to miss your flight." Ally instinctively hugged her mother, breathing in her familiar scent. As the stepped onto the platform which would take her away from her mother for the next two months, Ally felt, for lack of a better word, liberated. She turned back one last time to see her mother's familiar head of long, wavy chestnut hair, which she had inherited, but couldn't find her in the crowd. She took a big breath, she could do this. Really, if she could go have pizza with Dallas without dying – although there were a few close calls – then she could handle this.

The stewardess showed her to her seat, and Ally sat, hoping that the seat next to her was empty. For once, the Gods seemed to take what she said into account and no one sat beside her. After listening half-heartedly to the pilot's words, and checking her phone for any more texts, she sat down and pulled out her song book.

Her mind drifted to Dallas and the crush she'd harbored on him for years, her failed attempts to get him to notice her, him calling her "Alex", and all of a sudden, like being struck by lightning, the words came to her, the pen scrabbling to get the words down before she forgot. _You don't know, know, know, my name, name, name_— *

Suddenly she sighed in frustration. Now she wished more than ever that she could practice this on her piano. But wait, she vaguely remembered downloading a piano app on her Samsung Galaxy—what luck!—and quickly opened it, covertly checking for stewardesses.

Of course, what Ally failed to remember was that her stage fright would stop this song from ever being performed live—right?

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* * *

**Austin**

When Austin woke up on Tuesday morning, he had that tangible and yet inexplicable feeling that today was going to be a great day. He woke up with a smile grazing his lips, wondering why on earth he was so excited. "Wake up, Sleeping Ugly!" a voice snapped jokingly. Austin jumped a mile in the air, although he already knew the source of the voice.

"Trish, what are you –?" he yelped, hurriedly covering his shirtless torso with his blanket.

"No need to worry, I'm not interested in you," Trish sighed, rolling her eyes, "and it's not something that I haven't seen before."

Austin nodded, she did have a point there – Trish was basically his crude sister who looked nothing like him, but – "That doesn't mean I want you to see me half-naked!" he yelped.

"Your mom let us in," Dez shrugged nonchalantly, watching his best friend freak out like it was a daily occurrence. Trish snorted derisively, and Dez glanced at her, noticing how the light in the room made her eyes sparkle with mischief – well, with more mischief – "Do I have something on my face, Nimwad?" Trish asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"'Course not," Dez said awkwardly, looking embarrassed, "but—"

"Whatever," Trish said, interrupting Dez. "So, you start your new job today, huh?" She surveyed her best friend with searching eyes, trying to gouge out his reaction, but so far, all his features were arranged into a perfectly cool and aloof mask.

"Yeah," Austin said, "I can't wait! For once, it's all about the music and dad can't complain because he's always harping on about me getting a job." Both Trish and Dez looked at Austin in sympathy, having heard Austin's many tirades about his father not supporting his dream. "And last week – last week I almost found out—"

"Yes, yes, we know," Trish said impatiently. "You'll find out eventually."

"Or, you know, Trish could just use the 'Trish method' to get someone to tell her," Dez supplied, both he and Austin winced, remembering having this method used on them, Trish grinning proudly in the background. "She's just so evil!"

"Oh, please," Trish grinned maniacally, "You flatter me." The trio remained silent for a few more moments, Austin getting the feeling that his presence was only increasing in the awkwardness, despite the fact that they were, in fact, in his own room.

"So, what'll you guys be up to, 'cause I have to work all day," Austin said finally.

"Zarathon!" Dez and Trish grinned at each other, then high-fived. Austin rolled his eyes, as if to say – what else? After all, the only time that Trish and Dez agreed on something was when they were discussing Zaliens, and what better way to bond than a Zalien Marathon – Trish had coined the portmanteau when they were in the seventh grade.

"Got the popcorn?" Trish asked.

"Got the costumes?" Dez retaliated.

"Bring it on!" they chorused.

"Uhm—" Austin coughed, reminding them that he was, in fact, still in the room. "If you two want to take that outside, so I can change, that'd be peachy."

Blushing, the two stepped outside as Austin went to his closet. Today was his first official day at work – and, coincidentally, the day that Lester's daughter, Allyson, would also start—but from what he'd heard about her, she didn't seem to be his type at all. She was quiet and bookish and most of all, she hated attention.

_How can anyone hate attention?_ Austin wondered as he tried on a shirt. _Maybe she's a Zalien!_ The insane voice in his head – which sounded a lot like Dez – reasoned. Well, whatever the reason was, he wanted to make a good impression – of course, she'd probably fall for him with his good looks, eyes to die for, and amazing voice.

"And your modesty!" Trish called from behind the door. "Can't forget that!"

Oh great, he must have been speaking out loud again—

"You were!" Dez's voice interrupted.

"It's a habit, okay?" Austin frowned, exiting his room. "All the great rock stars do it!"

"Like who?" Trish raised an eyebrow.

"Like – uhm – I don't have to answer to you!" Austin snapped, walking towards the kitchen table. Once again, for what felt like the millionth time that day, Dez and Trish rolled their eyes at him.

"Morning, Austin," Stephanie said with a smile. "Dez, Trish, how did you get here?"

"Wait – " Austin paused. "But I thought you let them – "

"Er – anyway," Trish said quickly. "Good morning, Mrs. Moon, what's up?" She smiled innocently at Austin, who sent her a dirty look_, how many times had he told her that breaking into his house was not okay_?

"We'll just be heading into town today – visiting Austin's grandparents and buying stuff for the garden, would you guys like anything?"

"No, mom," Austin shook his head. "I have to work today." Stephanie's eyes teared up.

"My son is a real man now! Next thing you know, he'll be getting his first chest hair—" Austin turned beet red and face-palmed, already knowing that, from the look on Trish's face, the news would be blackmail material.

"Thank you, mother," Austin groaned from his hands. "Thank you, thank you for ruining my life." The last three words were said with forced calm.

"Steph, we really should be going," Norman walked into the room. "Oh, good morning, son, Trish, and Dez – how are you?"

"Good morning, Mr. Moon," the duo chorused, sounding like an old married couple.

"We'll be going out today," Norman informed his son. "Oh, and good luck with your"—and here he winced—"job."

"Thanks, dad," Austin said, genuinely surprised. "Have fun."

This time, the smile was real as Norman said, "Have fun, too," to his only child. As the two adults left the house, the trio exchanged confused looks.

"Wait—I thought he hated your goal to become a musician," Dez stated.

"I think he still does," Austin said, chewing his pancake slowly, thinking.

"Whatever," Trish said after a moment when none of them could think of any answers. "Let's so, Dez! Zaliens await us!"

"Yeah!" Dez grinned – because he was excited about the Zarathon, not because of the way Trish was looking at him, really – and exchanged a thumps up with Austin.

"Good luck with your job!" Trish called as she walked towards the foyer.

"Wait – don't you work today, too?" Austin realized aloud.

"Yeah, I do. What's your point?" Trish said in an indifferent voice, "Ciao!"

Without either his friends or his parents in the house, the place felt oddly cavernous and empty. After finishing his third helping of pancakes, he went to his practice room, aka the basement, to get in an hour of practice, hoping that he'd finally master the riff on the song 'Sweet Child O' Mine', which he'd been working on for weeks. As his fingers found the familiar threshold, he found himself letting go – all that mattered was him and the music and—

"Damnit!" he swore, glancing at the clock. Bolting upstairs, he grabbed the first pair of shoes he saw, and quickly opened the garage door, searching for his bike.

"Faster!" he groaned as if the bike was a horse, "C'mon, he'll be go mad if I'm late on the first day of work—" Maybe the bike pitied him, or maybe it was the fates, but either way, just as he was walking through the door of Sonic Boom, he saw Lester, who didn't look angry, just surprised.

"Just on time," he quipped.

"I know, I'm sorry, I just got carried away with the music," Austin said truthfully.

Lester sighed, "I know, Austin. I was just like you. So anyway, I'm going to be in town today, so will you be able to handle it? My daughter—" but he broke off and didn't finish the sentence as Ausin nodded. "Good!" He clapped the teen on the back and left the store.

Luckily, there were only a few people in the store, none of whom looked like they were going to buy anything any time soon, so he had a few moments to catch his break and relax.

Suddenly, there was a sound of light piano playing, something that Austin hadn't heard before, but it sounded, well, good. It was coming from the large grand piano in the corner, which was occupied by a pretty girl with dark hair covering her face. Sighing, Austin remembered the store's strict 'NO TOUCHING THE INSTRUMENTS' policy.

"Uhm, hi, I'm sorry but I'm going to—" Austin stopped midsentence as the girl turned around. Eyes that seem to sparkle like the night sky stared at him, lost in a porcelain pale face. "—uhm, what was I saying?" He was staring at her in a way that made her blush. "Oh, yeah – no playing the instruments, sorry. That was a good song, though."

"Really?" she blushed. "Thanks. It's original – I guess I should have known better, though – owner's daughter and all." Austin was staring at her, so the words didn't really sink in until he noticed the gold name tag that said 'Ally Dawson'.

"Oh my God, you're Allyson Dawson," he blurted out, immediately regretting it when her face morphed into one of annoyance. "Sorry."

"It's okay," she said with a smile. "And Oh my God, you're Austin Moon!"

"How did you know?" he wondered aloud. She pointed towards his gold name tag. "Oh. Right."

"I guess we're co-workers now," she said conversationally.

"I guess so—" Austin began, but her attention had shifted to her phone as she read a text. She briefly caught the name 'Dallas' before she glared at him reproachfully, closing the message.

"Sorry, he's my – uhm – my boyfriend, and I promised to text me every day," he noticed how she blushed when she mentioned him.

"Oh," he didn't know what else to say. "Okay."

"Yeah," she replied, smiling slightly, whatever had been in the air before was gone now. A strand of brown hair fell out of the messy bun she'd pulled it in and dangled in front of her eyes.

Austin cleared his throat, "You've got a—"

And then Trish burst through the door.

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* * *

**Ally**

Her mother was right, she and her dad had a lot of things in common: namely that they were both very awkward people. When she'd gotten off of the plane, she'd had a momentary spasm of panic, what if she and her father didn't recognize each other? Of course, these fears were immediately proven to be unfounded when a voice called, "Ally, over here, hon!" She just hoped that there was only one Ally on the plane.

After she'd approached her father, there surfaced a new set of worries: should she hug him? Shake his hand? This situation was also resolved – very awkwardly, she may add – when he gave her a one-armed hug. "You've really grown since I last saw you," he said, obviously grasping at straws.

Ally tried not to roll her eyes, it didn't seem like she was talking to her father, but more like one of those stuffy UCLA professor's that her mom always invited over for dinner. "Thanks, dad," she said noncommittally.

"So," he said after a few more minutes of awkward silence. "Can I count on your help at the store?"

"Yeah," Ally grinned, smiling for the first time that day. This was something that she didn't have to fake enthusiasm about: music was her passion, and no matter how many times her mother told her that it was a fickle career and the chances of her making it in were next to done, she still harbored a secret dream to be a song-writer.

As the two sat down in Lester's Cadillac, Lester popped in a_ Phantom of the Opera _CD and pressed shuffle. The beginning of Christine's _Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again_ made her blush for some reason; maybe it's because this was how she normally felt about her dad, who was only two feet away now. Almost inaudibly, she began singing along, "_You were once my one companion, you were all that mattered, you were once a friend and father_ – "

Lester's hands turned white on the steering wheel and Ally stopped abruptly, stage-fright and embarrassment overcoming her. "That was – that was good, Ally!" His voice was filled with awe. He also began singing, _"Then my world was shattered, wishing you were somehow here again, wishing you were somehow near_ – " Ally's jaw dropped. For as long as she could remember, she'd wondered where she'd gotten her musical talent from, since her mother couldn't carry a tune. It was now painfully obvious, and she joined him in singing the last verse, "_Sometimes it seemed if I just dreamed, somehow you would be here_."

"Wow," was all the teenager could manage as they finished the duet.

"Ally, I – " but her dad paused, evidently unable to finish his sentence. "We're home."

. . .

After getting unpacked and gouging out her new room, which, to her relief, had a piano, Ally decided to go see Sonic Boom, even though she wasn't due to work for a few hours.

The piano looked just too inviting and she sat down and began to practice the first few notes of her plane-concocted song, which she'd named 'Double Take'. As soon as her fingers touched the ivory keys, she was transported to a world where it was just her and the piano, she forgot about everything: Dallas, her stage-fright, the cute blond she'd noticed on her way in—

"Hi," she heard from behind her. "Uhm, sorry but I'm going to – " the boy stopped midsentence as Ally turned to face him, cheeks reddening. He seemed to be her age and was quite good looking, for an objective point of view, only, and he had a stunned look on his face. "Sorry, what was I saying?" The intensity of his gaze her blush. "Oh, yeah – no playing the instruments, sorry. That was a good song, though."

Ally nodded, knowing that she'd gotten carried away. "Really?" she blushed. "Thanks. It's original – I guess I should have known better, though – owner's daughter and all." His face showed blank shock for a second, and Ally looked annoyed.

"Oh my God, you're Allyson Dawson!" he exclaimed. Ally frowned; she hated being called by her full name. He quickly noticed her less-than-pleased reaction and said, "Sorry!"

"It's okay," his awkwardness made her smile. Glancing covertly at her name tag, she said in an overly loud voice, "Oh my God, you're Austin Moon!"

"How do you know?" he asked, oblivious. She pointed to his name tag. "Oh. Right."

"I guess we're co-workers now," she said just to alleviate the pressing silence.

"I guess so—" she heard Austin say, but a small _ping!_ had led her attention to her phone, where she'd just received a text from Dallas. Her lips pursed as she read the note.

**Dallas: going 2 da bch w/da boyz. miss u xx**

She rolled her eyes at the deplorable spelling, and felt a small twinge of jealousy imagining them on the beach. Slowly turning, she noticed that Austin had been also looking at the text. She blushed; for some reason, in her mind, Dallas and Austin didn't coexist together. "Sorry, he's my – uhm – my boyfriend and he promised to text me every day."

"Oh," he didn't know what else to say. "Okay."

"Yeah," Ally said awkwardly, the mood between them ruined. A wavy strand of hair felt out of her perfectly messy bun and covered her left eye.

Austin cleared his throat, "You've got a—"

But whatever he'd been about to say or do was interrupted when a girl about their age, with curly brown hair and sparkling eyes, barged into the store, paying no attention to the 'NO YELLING IN THE STORE' rule. "Austin, hey—"

"Trish?" her new co-worker, Austin, asked, looking confused. "What's up?"

"Dez lost Zaliens 2!" Trish exclaimed like it was a calamity of national importance. Ally looked at Austin in confusion.

"What's—?" she began but Trish finally seemed to notice her presence.

"Oh, hi!" she said with a smile that seemed too innocent. "You must be Allyson—"

"Ally," she interrupted, fixing the strand of hair that had slipped. "Call me Ally."

"Hi, Ally! I'm Trish—best friends with this buffoon." She gestured towards Austin , who looked too amused to be really offended, Ally couldn't help but compare Trish to Lucy – even though she'd only met Trish a minute ago, she seemed so vibrant and full of life, while Lucy was more aloof and reserved. "Lunch break! You can come too, Ally!"

"But—but we just got here," Ally replied, confused.

"But there's no one in here," Trish said, as if teaching a toddler the alphabet, "Come on, Ally, you've just got to live a little!"

"But—" A million excuses came to her mind about why she couldn't have lunch with these two people who, for once, actually seemed interested in being her friends., but then she thought—_how many other people will want to hang out with me this summer? I might as well make some friends, especially if I'm going to be working with Austin_—"Okay, let's do it!" Ally yelled, surprising herself with her boldness.

"I'm a rebel!" she exclaimed ten minutes later, after locking up. "I've never done something like this before. It's so – it's so—"

"Exhilarating?" Trish suggested.

"Yeah!" Ally exclaimed.

Trish and Austin exchanged glances.

"I have a new mission in life," Trish announced suddenly. Ally looked confused, but Austin just face-palmed.

"If it's anything like your mission to eat ten hotdogs in a minute – "

"My mission," Trish pressed, pretending that she hadn't heard Austin, "is to show Miss Dawson how to be a real rebel."

"I am a rebel!" Ally protested. "I just closed up the shop early!"

"Ooh," Trish rolled her eyes—not in a condescending way—"Exciting!"

Ally opened her mouth to protest, but Austin beat her to it. "Leave her alone, Trish."

"I'm going to show you how to live, Ally Dawson! Welcome to Trish's Laws for Living!"

Trish slung an arm around Ally casually and Ally squirmed. "I have so much to teach you, young Jedi!"

"What did I get myself into?" Ally wondered. It looked like she was in for an interesting summer to say the least…

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* * *

**a/n**: so how was the first official chapter? Did you like the dez/trish and the Austin/ally interaction? Is there anything you wish there was more of, if so please review or pm me what you'd like and – not going to promise that I'll do it – but I'll put it into consideration.

Also, one thing I was really worried about was the Auslly meeting. I know in a lot of fics, they don't like each other at first, but, as inferred from watching the show, the only reason why Ally disliked Austin was because he stole her song – and was goofing off with the instruments – so, if the roles were reversed, I don't think they'd start off in an antagonistic relationship, y'know?

*This is the original one that she was singing when Austin walked in on her in the pilot, it's a little different from the one that Austin actually used.

And did you like the Phantom duet? 'Cause I like the idea of duets in this story, and I know the song that A/A are going to sing together later, which may lead to something more, wink wink.

Do you guys agree or not?

**REVIEWS = MOTIVATION = FAST UPDATES**

Don't favourite or alert without reviewing, please!

Madeline (overstreets)


	3. ii

**a/n:** I am honestly stunned at the reception that this fic has had, honestly; thank you to all my readers and reviewers and anyone who's favourite and alerted, and so far, the favourite/alert to review ratio isn't that bad, but it's not quite on par.

All of you hardcore Austin/Ally shippers will LOVE this chapter, just telling you in advance, there's a very cute moment which, ahem, gets interrupted. And I apologize for the DallasAlly, in advance.

Yeah, so I don't own _Austin & Ally_, which belongs with _Disney_. Nor do I own any of the various songs which will be featured in this chapter. ;)

Please don't favourite or alert without leaving a review.

* * *

Chapter Two: Lucky

"_and i thought about how many people have loved those songs. and how many people got through a lot of bad times because of those songs. and how many people enjoyed good times with those songs. and how much those songs really mean. i think it would be great to have written one of those songs. i bet if i wrote one of them, i would be very proud. i hope the people who wrote those songs are happy. i hope they feel it's enough. i really do because they've made me happy. and i'm only one person."_

– **the perks of being a wallflower** ; stephen chbosky

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**Austin**

"So," Trish announced as she, Austin, and Ally walked away from the music store, plodding towards the mall's food court. "How am I going to show you how to live this summer?" She paused for dramatic effect, watching Ally's reaction, which seemed to be a mix of curiosity, fear, and apprehension. "Well, first of all, have you ever had a chili dog?"

"A what?" Ally asked, her eyebrows raised in confusion. "Is that, like, a hot dog with chili on it, or something?" She looked slightly nauseated.

"She grasps methods fast," Trish said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Ally looked confused as to whether she should be amused or offended, and Austin gave her a small smile that read –_ don't worry, you'll get used to it. I hope_. "As a matter of fact, Allyson"—she ignored Ally's scowl—"it _is_. And today, you are going to have one."

"But—" Ally opened her mouth to assault Trish with her barrage of protests. "But—"

"No buts," Trish snapped. "We're going to have a nice, good, ol' fashioned lunch, on Austin."

"Hey!" Austin protested, but both girls ignored him, choosing instead to bicker over Ally's food choices. Feeling slightly abandoned by both the girls, Austin stuck his lower lip out in a pout that he'd used thousands of times in attempts to get what he wanted – despite the fact that it hardly ever worked.

"Nice try, Pouty McPouterson, it won't work on me – never has, never will," Trish shrugged. Ally, however, stared at him with some sympathy, and, for a moment, until Trish reclaimed her attention, he was struck with the sudden intensity of her warm brown eyes—

"Ahem, if you guys are done there," Trish interrupted, staring between the two, who just then seemed to come to their senses. Trish was about ten paces ahead of them, having obviously kept walking when Austin and Ally had their little stare-down. "We've got a lunch date!"

"Uhm, right – " Ally said, nodding at Trish, then hurrying to catch up with the curly-haired brunette, who returned Austin's slightly jealous glare with one that simply read – _I can't help that I'm awesome_.

For the rest of the long – and, admittedly, quite awkward – journey to the food court, Austin said very little, just covertly glancing at Ally, who seemed to be in deep discussion about the merits of romantic-comedies.

They'd had a moment, Austin realized with a start, a real moment – _if Trish wasn't here_! – but then he remembered, with quite an unpleasant jolt, that she had a _boyfriend_, and he was many things, but Austin Moon was not a girlfriend stealer—and there was the small fact that he didn't want it to be a regret—

"Where's your money, Texas?" Trish's voice snapped him back to reality. "I'm going to go buy myself a burrito! And one for Miss I-Hate-Anything-Tasty over there!" Austin didn't even bat his eyelash as he gave Trish his wallet; he had long given up any hope of Trish renouncing her kleptomaniac ways—and the fact that Trish never kept a job for more than 72 hours meant that she never got a paycheck. "Ciao, losers, don't make out while I'm gone – "

"We're not going to make out!" Ally said quickly, cheeks turning a flaming red. "I – have – a – _boyfriend_!"

"Whatever," Trish rolled her eyes and departed. "That doesn't stop people from – "

"Sorry for Trish," he apologized immediately when Trish was out of earshot, "she can be a bit – " he let the rest of the sentence hang in the air. Ally laughed, but – to his immense frustration and annoyance – did not look him in the eye.

"Yeah, but she's cool, I like her," Ally giggled, still not looking at him in the eye. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Spend years with her, like I did, and you won't be saying the same thing," Austin quipped, rolling his eyes.

"I don't know, she seems like the type to keep everything – uhm – for lack of a better word, lively."

"You have no idea," Austin groaned, glad that she was opening up to him. "There was this one time when she sold all my shoes for charity – "

"Well, if it's for charity then she can't be all bad," Ally pressed.

"– a charity which was titled, 'Buy Trish a BlackBerry'," Austin finished, noting her wide-eyed look. "But she's always there for me when it counts, so that's good, and I always have Dez for the bro stuff – "

"Dez?" Ally asked, raising an eyebrow.

"His full name is –" Austin couldn't help but snort. "– _Dezmond_." Ally whacked him on the arm.

"It's not that bad of a name," she denied, but he could see the cracks in her façade, and knew that she was close to laughter.

"No, I suppose that _Dezmond_ is overreacting when he says that the name _Dezmond_ if a horrible name – I quite like the name _Dezmond_," Austin said with a wink, putting an emphasis on Dezmond every time he mentioned it. As he'd expected, Ally began to giggle – first small ones, then soon uncontrollable ones that wracked her body.

"Uhm – Ally?" he called out tentatively a few moments later, when it looked like her giggles had no sign of ending in the near future. "Are you okay?" She still didn't respond, shaking with laughter.

"What did you do to her?" an accusing voice asked.

"Nothing!" Austin protested, looking and feeling guilty. Trish looked unconvinced. "Okay, I just told her that Dez's full name is Dezmond." This elicited another round of laughter from Ally while Trish gave him a clearly annoyed look.

"Well, I think you broke her!" Trish snapped, glaring at the blond boy, who then raised his arms as a final sign of innocence. Ally seemed to come to her senses then, and looked up, grin still on her face.

_She looks pretty when she smiles_, an idle voice in Austin's head commented. He shook his head violently, as if to get rid of this thought, and luckily, neither Trish nor the girl in question had noticed anything different, as Trish had just pulled up a chair and began grabbing various snack foods out of the bag. Austin wondered how much all of this cost, knowing that Trish had no reservations with spending other people's money.

"Enjoy!" she grinned, pushing the largest, greasiest snack towards Ally, who wrinkled her nose.

"I already ate," she pushed the plate towards Austin, who looked at it with some apprehension.

"What is it?" Austin stared at the plate from different angles, as if trying to gouge what it was.

"Poutine," Trish said promptly.

"Which is–?" Ally pressed, staring at the plate, which seemed to be fries and gravy covered in cheese.

"It's a Canadian food, but it's really good."

"And really unhealthy," Ally fretted.

"And really good," Trish frowned. "Just try some."

As Ally slowly lifted up a forkful her lips, Austin gave her a comforting smile, which made her heart beat a little faster. "This is good!" she exclaimed as the finished her first mouthful. "Who knew Canadians knew how to cook? Try some, Austin!" She then proceeded to grab the spare fork and shove a mouthful of the fries, gravy, and cheese curds into his mouth, and he chewed and swallowed.

"This _is_ good!" Austin said in surprise.

"Of course it is!" Trish looked mildly offended, "What else would you expect?" Ally caught Austin's eye and the two exchanged smirks. "Oh, drat! I promised Dez I'd be back in time for Zaliens 3 – and he just texted me, I'll see you later, Texas? And you, too, Ally, definitely. I may have gotten you into Canadian cuisine, but I still have a lot of work to do if you're going to learn how to be chill . . . anyway, I'm out, guys."

Trish got up from the table, leaving the two teens alone. Ally looked down at her poutine with a determined air now, noticing that, to the outsider, it would look like they were on a date – which they most definitely were not!

After a few moments of silence, the local surfer shop began blasting the stereo full-blast.

"I love this song!" Ally exclaimed, as the first few notes of Jason Mraz's _Lucky_ began playing.

Austin raised his eyebrows and began singing, even though lovey-dovey pop songs weren't really his forte,_ "Do you hear me, I'm talking to you, across the water, across the deep blue ocean, under the open sky, oh my, baby I'm trying,"_ her face reflected one of pure shock for a second and Austin felt himself going red; of course it had been a stupid idea –

But then, almost inaudibly, Ally began singing in response. _"Boy I hear you in my dreams, I feel your whisper across the sea, I keep you with me in my heart –_ " Her voice was utterly amazing, Austin realized with a gasp, "—_you make it easier when life gets hard –"_

He joined her in the chorus, "_I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend, lucky to have been where I have been, lucky to be coming home again, Ooohh ooooh oooh oooh ooh ooh ooh ooh."_ Her eyes captured his and they seemed to hold each other's gaze, and hey both stood up, almost at the same time, and began circling each other around the table.

"_They don't know how long it takes, waiting for a love like this, every time we say goodbye – "_ they staggered this part, with Austin singing just a second after Ally. _"I wish we had one more kiss, I'll wait for you I promise you, I will_." He took a step closer to her, almost unaware of his actions, and she didn't flinch away, her eyes locked onto his.

"_I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend, lucky to have been where I have been_," he reached out for her hand and she interlaced their fingers together, and they faced each other, lost in the other's voice, _"Lucky to be coming home again, lucky we're in love every way, lucky to have stayed where we have stayed, lucky to be coming home someday_." He twirled her closer, pulling her to his chest, and, to his surprise, she didn't pull away.

"_And so I'm sailing through the sea, to an island where we'll meet, you'll hear the music fill the air, I'll put a flower in your hair_," Austin sang just for her, he didn't notice that people had stopped what they were doing and were gazing at the couple in awe, obviously feeling the unwritten chemistry between them. Austin pulled his arm upwards, and Ally twirled into him, still locking eyes with him as she sang her part.

"_Though the breezes through trees, move so pretty you're all I see, as the world keeps spinning round, you hold me right here right now_," her breath was a whisper against his chest, and nothing, _nothing_ in the universe had ever felt this _right_.

"_I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend, lucky to have been where I have been, lucky to be coming home again_ – " Austin couldn't take his eyes off her, she looked so carefree and beautiful. _" –I'm lucky we're in love every way, lucky to have stayed where we have stayed, lucky to be coming home someday, ooohh ooooh oooh oooh ooh ooh ooh ooh, oooh ooooh oooh oooh ooh ooh ooh ooh_," the song ended there, with both of them panting and staring at the other, completely oblivious to the stunned applause of their impromptu audience, Austin barely even noticed that this was his first live concert; all that mattered was the girl pressed to his chest, eyes bright, hair completely undone from the bun.

"I—I didn't know you sang," Austin said breathily, staring at her. She blushed.

"I don't usually, but I love this song," Ally said quietly, cheeks still flushed. Before either of them knew it, they were both leaning forward, already closing the miniscule space between them, totally unaware of the crowd chanting ("_Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!")._ Just as his lips were a breath away from hers, her phone rang, and Austin finally noticed the visibly disappointed sighs of the crowd and Ally's bloodless face. He caught the flash of the person who'd called—_Dallas_.

Without a word, Ally turned and fled the food court, not even noticing – or maybe not caring – that she'd left her bag on the table.

"Tough luck, man," commented a random guy who clapped Austin on the back. "Maybe next time."

But he had a feeling that Ally would not want to see his face for a very long time.

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* * *

**Ally**

Ally ran from the food court, sobs escaping her, wracking her body. She heard several shouts of people asking whether or not she was okay, and people congratulating her on her duet—she'd been so caught up in the moment that she hadn't even noticed the throng of people who'd watched, a good thing as she had major stage fright—and the latter made her cry more.

She couldn't believe that she'd almost cheated on Dallas with a guy she'd only met an hour ago, no matter _how _cute the guy was!

The flashing on her phone, which indicated a missed call, only added to her sense of guilt over the whole matter. To think, if Dallas hadn't called, she would have kissed him! _No I wouldn't have_, her over-rational mind thought, to her chagrin, _it's not like I wasn't having fun singing the duet_! She was confused over the whole matter, and if there was one thing that Ally Dawson hated, it was being confused. There was only one possible solution, she reasoned: stay away from Austin. If she eliminated the guy that she'd – almost – cheated on Dallas with out of the equation, then there'd be no cheating, right? But she felt another pang as she thought of Trish, who was obviously very good friends with Austin – if they hung around each other often, then she would also have to sever ties with Trish! But Dallas was worth it, wasn't he? After all, Trish would only be a summer friend, and if Dallas and Ally didn't work out, she'd have that rubbed in her face for the rest of her high school experience, and possibly into college.

That was it, she reasoned, she'd made her decision. But what about Sonic Boom? They'd have to work together—she just reasoned that she'd ignore him as much as possible—_and no more duets_.

She didn't even notice that her feet had carried her home – to her dad's house – until she stood at the foot of the driveway, looking upwards.

As soon as she got in, she turned on her laptop and checked her Skype.

**DallasBoy15 wants to video-call.**

Ally quickly pressed accept and tried to look more presentable in front of the camera, trying to forget the duet and Austin—

"Hey, Alls," Dallas said with his laid-back smile that usually had Ally's heart thumping. "What's up?"

"Hey, Dallas," Ally forced a smile onto her face, hoping that he wouldn't notice her tear-streaked cheeks—all the hoping was in vain, however, as Dallas launched into a full-blown description of their trip to the beach that day – and how he and Tilly had won the sandcastle building contest, "- I mean, who knew that she was into sandcastles?" Dallas finished obliviously. Ally rolled her eyes; in the past, the thought of Dallas and Tilly doing something together had made her jealous, but now, it seemed obvious that Dallas wouldn't notice Tilly's feelings for her until she walked by wearing a 'MARRY ME, DALLAS' t-shirt—which, knowing Tilly, she already owned.

"So what have you been up to?" Dallas asked eventually, after telling Ally numerous stories, all seeming to involve him and his friends pulling juvenile stunts. "How's Miami?"

"Interesting," Ally hedged, not willing to give too much away, she didn't even have to try, though, for it seemed that Dallas' attention had already been redirected at something – or some_one_ else.

Ally heard a noise downstairs and jumped slightly, which brought Dallas' eyes back to her, "Oh, sorry, I got distracted – what was that?"

"I think my dad's home or something," Ally frowned, "I heard a noise." Dallas nodded obviously uninterested, and Ally heard another noise, however, this time, it was louder and obviously closer. She hoped that this wouldn't be like one of those horror movies, but luckily Dallas would be able to identify her attacker – not that he would, seeing as his attention had drifted again – and then Austin burst into his room, her bag in his arms.

"Austin!" she felt herself blush. "What are you doing in here?"

"What, no 'hi'?" Austin teased, Ally couldn't help but smile—she'd been so afraid that the duet and the almost kiss would have ruined things between them, but he seemed to be his good old teasing self, still.

She felt her heart drop as she remembered her promise – stay away from Austin, and his smile slipped as he noticed her grin quickly become an indifferent expression. "Why are you here?" she repeated again, this time devoid of emotion. She noticed that she'd finally received Dallas' attention, and wondered, somewhat contemptuously, whether or not if he'd still be paying attention to something or someone else if Austin hadn't just burst in the room.

"You … left ... your … bag … Lucky ... when you ran," Austin panted, and she noticed that he must have run here.

"Thanks," she grabbed the bag from him, careful not to make any eye or skin contact, while Dallas coughed.

Austin's face turned pale as he realized that Ally had been in the middle of something. "Who the hell are _you_?" Dallas spat out, looking jealous. Ally was a little flattered – who knew that Dallas would be protective? – but also annoyed at the fact that Dallas could basically ignore her, then only pay attention to her when someone was doing her the deed of returning her lost wallet.

"Oh, hi," Austin said awkwardly. "I take it you're Dallas?" Dallas still didn't respond, merely glaring at the blond boy. "I'm Austin, Austin Moon, and I'm –"

_Please, don't say friends_, Ally thought, _if you say friends then he'll assume the worst_.

"Her co-worker at Sonic Boom," he finished. Ally was so relieved that she could have kissed him – not that that would have helped the Dallas situation one bit.

Dallas' features visibly relaxed, "Oh, okay. Well, I'm her _boyfriend_, Dallas." Neither of the two teenagers missed the emphasis he placed on the word boyfriend, as if staking his claim.

"Oh, yes," Austin nodded. "Ally's told me a lot about you."

Dallas nodded as well, appeased. "Anyway, the guys and I have a flag football match in half an hour so I have to go. Bye, Alls." And with that, the screen shut off.

"Alls?" Austin snorted, rolling his eyes. "Could your boyfriend be any more of a tool?"

"Shut up !" Ally snapped, although a part of her agreed with him.

"He's so … possessive," Austin frowned. "You'd think he walked in on us making out – " They both blushed, remembering the almost kiss, then looked away from the other.

"Well, it's natural for him to be jealous," Ally defended Dallas. "If you were on video call with your girlfriend and an attractive guy walked in –"

Austin got only one thing from that sentence. "Wait, you think I'm _attractive_?" Her flaming cheeks quickly answered his question.

"Uhm – anyway, he has a perfect right to be jealous."

"Maybe," Austin allowed, "but that doesn't give him the right to be a complete jerk!"

"He is not a jerk!"

"Yes he is!"

"No – he – isn't!" Ally snapped, losing her temper, "and I don't even know why you're judging someone that lives thousands of miles away, and that you'll probably never meet!" Her eyes met Austin's, which were fiery and intense. She noticed how close they were, and remembered her promise to avoid him.

_And it was going so well, wasn't it_? She thought wryly.

"Ally? What's that noise?" Lester came running up the stairs and threw open the door, to see his daughter and his new employee almost face to face, lips inches apart, breathing heavily. "What–?" He glared at Austin, who only then seemed to notice the intimacy of their positions.

"Dad," Ally looked stunned. "I was just – we were—"

"I was returning her bag to her," Austin supplied, looking guilty. Ally shot him a grateful look, one which wasn't missed by Lester.

"And why, exactly, may I ask, did you have her bag?" Lester hissed, protective over his only child.

"Because she ran off after lunch, because – uhm – wesangaduet—" Austin said the last part so fast that it took Lester a full minute to decode what he'd said.

"Well, you guys have better leave the door open!" Lester called as he plodded back down the stairs, ignoring the shouts of both the now red-faced teenagers.

They looked at each other and began yelling their excuses.

"We would _never_ –"

"I have a boyfriend –"

"She's _so_ not my type –"

(To witch Ally mouthed, "You have a type?")

"He uses too much hair gel –"

"How can someone use too much hair gel?" Austin interrupted, looking flabbergasted. Do you know how hard I work to get my hair into its perfect form? Well I'll tell you: I work pretty hard."

Ally giggled, and once again found herself forgetting her promise to stay away from Austin – he was just so likeable!

"You should go," she said finally.

"I should," Austin nodded, heading towards the door. He paused in the doorway, though, and turned around to look at Ally with his hazel eyes – eyes which she'd gotten lost in during their duet. "You know, if you hadn't pulled away, I would have kissed you." And with that, and without another word, he walked out of the room. "You deserve a better boyfriend."

She stayed silent until she heard his footsteps in the foyer and two voices – Austin's and her father's – and the sound of the door closing. Then she sat down on her bed and sighed; what had she gotten herself into?

For some reason, Austin's parting words kept replaying in her mind – _You know, if you hadn't pulled away, I would have kissed you. You deserve a better boyfriend."_

* * *

**a/n**: a slightly shorter chapter but I hope you all enjoyed, and the slowly building up Auslly moments. Hopefully there'll be more Trez and Dez in general next chapter, but I just find him a really hard character to write, like Luna Lovegood, and I don't want to butcher him, and make him ridiculously OOC, y'know? But anyway, I'll try because there isn't enough Drish on this site.

I don't own Lucky, which belongs to Jason Mraz, and I modeled the Austin and Ally performance of it after the Fabrevans performance of it, so if you watch glee, imagine Ross and Laura as Sam and Quinn…fluff overload!

Remember, REVIEWS = UPDATES.

Until next time,

Madeline (overstreets)


	4. iii

**a/n:** this chapter is actually ridiculously fluffy, and there's no dallas and lots of Trez. DO NOT FAVOURITE OR ALERT WITHOUT LEAVING A REVIEW.

I hope you like this, and I don't own the quote – which is from Winnie the Pooh – and obviously, I don't own _Austin & Ally_.

* * *

Chapter Three: Friends?

"if you live to be a hundred, i want to live to be a hundred minus one day so i never have to live without you."

— **winnie the pooh** ; a.a. milne

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* * *

**Austin**

As he stormed away from the Dawson house and into the bright afternoon sunshine, Austin Moon began taking deep breaths, attempting to calm himself down, his mind was running through the last meeting with Ally – _what had he done_? He had overreacted, he knew that for sure, and a large – and ever-growing – part of him wanted to run back and apologize to her, but his legs kept him moving forward. He couldn't believe that he'd said that he would have kissed her – but it was the truth, that was for sure.

The real question, however, was whether or not the kiss would have just been in the heat of the moment – or something more. He kicked the curb where he was standing in frustration, unsure of where to go now. He knew for sure that Trish would kick his butt if he told her what had happened – he knew that Trish had really liked Ally, in her own way. "Do I like her?" he wondered aloud. He looked around furtively as if expecting her to appear around the mailbox. Still, he hurried on his way, still thinking of the question – he did like her, as a friend, at the very least, and he found her pretty—but he could say the same about his next door neighbour, Rachel – but he only saw her as a sister.

"I just liked singing with her," he told himself firmly, unwilling to consider any other option, "our voices just sounded good together." Satisfied with that explanation, and unwilling to consider anything else, Austin plodded towards Dez house, where Dez and Trish were almost at the end of their Zarathon.

"Oh, hey, Austin," Dez greeted, unsurprised, when Austin walked in, using the spare key – which they always kept under the doormat, "'Sup?" Austin grinned at his best friend, who was sitting a little too close to Trish on the loveseat. As if noticing his thoughts, Trish glared at both the boys in the room, then shifted as far away from Dez as the seat would allow and raised an eyebrow, daring Austin to comment.

Austin didn't have a death wish, so he said nothing. "You look annoyed," Dez commented in an offhand voice, while Austin stared in shock. It's funny – he'd known Dez for years, but sometimes, Dez could be surprising at how deep and insightful he was.

"I'm not," he lied, but both of his friends looked doubtful. Sometimes he wished his friends were more vapid, so they wouldn't notice these small things.

"Does it have something to do with Ally?" Trish asked in a surprisingly soft voice, glancing up at him. Austin looked at the ceiling, unwilling to respond, but they both seemed to have taken his resounding silence for a yes, as they both gave him sympathetic looks. "You like her," Trish said so suddenly that the aloof expression that Austin had held for the last hour slipped and for a second – for flashing, throbbing second – they could see that he did, then his expression returned to normal.

"Yeah, she's a great friend," Austin said, casually.

Trish face-palmed, but when she looked up, she had a smirk tugging at her lips, one which Austin knew usually meant bad, the last time she had looked like that, she ran over his dog with a lawn-mower. Sure enough – "So I guess you won't mind that I invited her to the beach?"

Austin almost choked, "No, of course I don't mind!"

"Cool," Trish sad, the evil smile still on her face. "We leave in an hour. Be ready."

Austin sighed; knowing that there was no way that he was going to get out of this, he sat down on the armchair across from Dez and Trish, thinking.

"Oh no," Dez groaned. "He's making that face again." Trish sighed, running a hand through her untameable curls, and glanced at Austin in what she thought was a covert way.

"What face?" Austin asked aloud, unsure of what they were talking about – though he guessed that it had something to do with him.

"Your constipation face," Trish said simply and Dez nodded, obviously agreeing with this sentiment.

Austin felt his face go red, "My – "

"Or, also known as your thinking face," she finished with a smirk at the blond boy, who mock-glared at her back.

"Glad you know my different faces," Austin hissed, only half-joking.

"Want to go get the doorbell?" Trish addressed Austin, lazily checking her BlackBerry – the very one which Austin's guitars had paid for, to be exact.

"Why would I need to go –?" Austin was cut off by, ironically, the doorbell.

"Wow, Trish!" Austin heard Dez's exclamation as he walked down the corridor. "You're, like, psychic!"

Pulling the door open, he was faced with Ally once again, and for a second he stared at her, wondering how she was going to react – was she going to hit him? Yell at him? Leave? All of these seemed possible – or perhaps she'd do all of them at the same time, and then slap him—it wasn't like that hadn't happened before, right?

"Hi," she didn't seem to do any of the three, and Austin idly wondered if he was imagining his parting words to her. She looked so openly friendly – and not homicidal, as he'd feared – that he smiled back at her. "So I'm guessing that this is Dez's house?"

"Yes, you are correct," Austin couldn't help his smirk. "This is _Dezmond_'s house."

As he'd expected, Ally cracked a real smile at him again. "Funny," she laughed. "But we need to talk."

Austin gulped, last time – or, basically any time – he'd heard that, a girl would break up with him. "_But we're not even dating_!" he burst out. She gave him a strange look, obviously questioning his sanity.

"I know that," she said slowly, in the tone that one might use to talk to a particularly slow child. "I have a boyfriend, Dallas, remember? You saw him, like, an hour ago." Austin tried to ignore how his heart thumped when she said "I have a boyfriend" because, _really_, he didn't like her. She grabbed his arm – and his heart beat faster – and pulled him into the nearest room.

"I want to start over," she stated simply.

"Huh?" Austin stared at her, utterly confused as to what she was referring.

"Look," she took a deep breath, as if the next part was really hard for her to say. "The duet was a mistake – I have a boyfriend"—he wondered if that was her catchphrase or something—"but I still want to be your … friend. I think we should just start over; no awkwardness, no duets. Okay?"

Austin stared at her, mouth open in shock. "I mean, if you don't want to," she began babbling, shoving a chunk of hair in her mouth. "Then—"

"No, no!" Austin said, "I'd like that – to be friends, I mean. You seem like a really cool person, and I'm sorry for what I said about your _boy_friend." He didn't mean the last part, but if it would let him get back in Ally's good books, then he'd take it.

"It's okay, I get it – we were both caught up in the moment. I probably would have kissed you, too," Ally admitted, looking down and away. He blushed, for some reason, this confession made him feel … _warm_.

He remembered the feeling that he used to get whenever he watched Dez and Trish – the feeling that something was missing; it was gone now, he felt … almost complete, with Ally standing two feet away from him, a smile on her face. "Yeah, caught in the moment," he echoed. "C'mon, Trish wants us to go to the beach, and they're going to wonder why we're taking so lo—"

As if on cue, the door burst open, and two figures fell onto the floor in a mess of tangled limbs, swear words, and red hair. "Uhm, hi – this, this isn't what it looks like," Trish began.

"Oh?" Ally said, with a mischievous glint in her eye. "So you weren't eavesdropping on us?"

"Okay, so it is what it looks like," Dez admitted, still lost in the rubble. "Trish, can you get off me? I can't breathe." Ally shook her head at his cluelessness.

Trish glared at him through narrowed eyes. "Are you implying that I'm heavy?"

Austin let out a low whistle. "Bad idea, man."

"You couldn't have told me that _ten seconds_ ago?" Dez wheezed, as now Trish was deliberately sitting on him. "Trish – please – can't—"

Mercifully, Trish sat up. "I can't have my punching bag die on me."

"Thank you," Dez said, gulping in the air with gasps.

"Dez, this is Ally Dawson," Austin said a few moments later, after it seemed clear that no one was saying anything.

"Hi, Dez," Ally smiled sweetly at him, "you two are a really cute couple, you –"

Both Dez and Trish turned red and looked away from each other, refusing to meet the others' eye, "We aren't a –" Trish began.

"I hardly even like Trish," Dez started. Trish glared at him, and he let out a terrified "Meep!" and his behind Austin.

"Oh," Ally paused, awkward tension filling the room. "Well –"

"Beach," Austin said as a gently reminder. "Come on!"

. . .

Twenty minutes later, the four teens traipsed out of the house with an assortment of surfboards, sunglasses, sunscreen, and beach blankets, and all crowded around Dez's parents' minivan, which would take them to a beach not far away. "Excited?" Austin asked Ally.

She raised an eyebrow, "_Of course_ I am! I wonder if beaches on the East Coast are different from beaches on the west coast."

"We can enter the surf competition," Austin added. The smile slipped off Ally's face.

"I can't surf," she said in a near-whisper, turning pink.

"But you live in _California!_" Austin sputtered in shock. "That's like a Canadian not knowing how to play hockey."

"Yeah, well," she was bright red now. "I never really got the chance."

"I'll teach you!" Austin said on a sudden burst of inspiration. "Yeah, I'll teach you, and then next time you go to the beach, everyone'll be surprised at how awesome you are!"

"I don't know …" she paused, unsure.

"Come on, Ally-cat," Austin grinned. Ally stared at him in shock for a moment.

"What did you just call me?"

"Uhm – Ally-cat," Austin repeated warily. To his surprise, however, she blushed.

"I like that," she smiled. "Dallas calls me 'Alls'." Austin looked away to avoid burst out into laughter, but to his surprise, Ally beat him to it. "Yeah, I know, but he's – uhm – not the best when it comes to nicknames."

"No, _really?_" Austin said sarcastically, and she gave him a smile that made his heart pound and his throat dry.

The four friends sat in the SUV and waited for Dez's mom, a woman named Monica, to start the car. "Oh," her eyes widened when she noticed the new face in the backseat, sitting next to Austin. "I haven't met you before, dear."

"Oh, right," Ally blushed. "I'm Ally Dawson, my dad owns Sonic Boom –"

"Austin didn't tell me that he had a girlfriend, and such a pretty one at that," Monica's husband, Steve, added, winking at a completely pale Ally.

"I'm not – we're not –"

"We're just friends!" Austin said quickly, hoping that his face didn't reflect his topsy-turvy insides, which seemed to have been doing backflips since Monica had mentioned that they were a couple.

"Oh," Monica blushed as well. "Oh, well, I thought – never mind. Uhm – allons-y." He didn't miss Trish's smirk in the background, and glared at her.

On the ride to the beach, everyone was silent, each pretending to observe the monotonous scenery which passed them. After an eternity, the car finally stopped at a beach which was filled with teenagers. "Have fun, guys!" Monica called. "Dez can call when you're gone, so we'll pick you up, okay?"

"Sorry about my mom," Dez said to Ally was the four walked towards the sandy area.

"No problem," Ally's smile was genuine. "She's funny."

"Come on, Ally!" Austin tugged at her arm, and she glanced at him, confused.

"What?"

"Do you think I was lying when I said I was going to teach you how to surf?" Austin raised an eyebrow, "If I wasn't going to be a rock star, I'd be a surfer … I have skills."

"_Right_," Ally said with a wink. However, she walked with him to grab a surf board, still looking uncertain.

"I won't let you fall," Austin promised. "Okay?"

"Okay," she smiled.

He then grabbed her hand – in a purely platonic way – and began to show her how to stand on the board, and before long, they were in the sand, laughing. "Next time you fall," Austin wheezed, "don't take me down with you!"

"What happened to 'I won't let you fall'," Ally retorted, but she didn't look mad; quite to opposite, in fact, she looked happy.

Austin decided that he wanted to make her smile like that more often.

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* * *

**Ally**

The quartet settled down for a picnic underneath the shade of a large palm tree, and they all began to munch happily on sandwiches. The sound of Ally's phone, however, soon distracted them from Trish's rather amusing story about her three hour stint working at the local arcade. "It's Dallas," she groaned, clicking 'reject'.

"Isn't he your boyfriend?" Dez raised an eyebrow. Only Trish noticed Austin's almost subconscious frown at that.

"I guess – it's just kind of annoying," Ally said, knowing full well that she'd regret not picking up the call later, "I mean, he calls me three times a day and expects me to pick up, but he won't even pay attention to me when we're on Skype." Trish made a disgusted noise.

"Then _why _are you still with him?"

"Because," Ally said dispassionately. "I had the largest crush on him for years, and he's just starting to notice me now—so what if he has a few flaws, he's still my boyfriend."

Trish rolled her eyes but refrained from commenting any further. "Ooh, surf competition!" she suddenly yelled, looking out into the distance. A group of well-toned, bronzed teenagers were holding surfboards and talking to what seemed to be a judge holding a clipboard.

"Ally, come on!" Austin jumped up, leaving his sandwich forgotten on the plastic plate, "we have this in the bag!"

"But I just learned how to surf _today_ – next time," Ally tried to say, but Austin seemed not to be listening to her.

"YOLO, Ally. You Only Live Once," Austin said. "What if there's a hurricane and the beach is flooded for the rest of the summer –?" Dez and Trish simultaneously rolled their eyes: why would he need to be a rock star when could obviously be an actor?

"Then I guess I miss out," Ally argued, already regretting not picking up Dallas' call. "I think I'll survive."

"_Please_?" Austin gave her a pouty look, one which she couldn't resist and she finally broke.

"Fine!" she snapped. "_Fine_!" The two walked over the where the other competitors were, and they wrote their names on the sign-up sheet.

"Nervous?" Austin asked some time later, watching Ally stare off into the ocean.

"Yes," Ally squeaked. Austin stared at her surprised, he'd seen Ally with many different emotions – passionate, annoyed, angry, in denial, happy – but she had never looked _scared_. "I don't do well in crowds." Austin winced, feeling bad that he'd forced her into it.

"If you don't want to do it," he said sincerely. "It'll be okay, I understand."

"No," she frowned. "I don't like to let my friends down. We're friends, right?" She directed the last part at him, looking at the blond teen full-on; brown eyes alight in the sunshine.

"Yeah," Austin grinned. "We're friends." He liked that, he decided, he liked being friends with Ally Dawson.

"If we're friends," Ally began. "Can I tell you something?" She leaned closer to him, smelling like flowers and exotic fruit, and he decided that he liked the smell of Ally Dawson as well.

"Sure," he managed to get out.

"I hate your shorts!" she said with a smirk. "And, think fast!" as she said the last part, she splashed him with water, drenching him. If it was anyone but Ally, he would have gotten angry and gone on a tirade about how hard it was to get his hair in that perfect shape every morning, but it _was_ Ally, so he just grinned and splashed her back.

"_Oh, no you didn't_!" Ally yelled after she recovered from the shock. She splashed him again, this time harder, and they both ignored – or chose not to notice – the groans of fellow patrons who had also been hit by the frothy water.

"I'm going to get you!" he roared, chasing after her, getting further away from the shore.

"Catch me if you can," she winked, diving underwater. Austin sighed, if there was one thing he hated, it was getting his hair wet, but if there was _another_ thing he hated, it was being completely submerged underwater, it was like some freaky Mermaid world down there, and he was quite comfortable in this world, thank you very much.

They soon began a splashing game, which not only soaked them, but also dozens of sunbathers who shot them dirty looks. "Uhm, excuse me," a gruff voice said, just as Ally dumped a bucket – borrowed from a random kid – filled with water and other assorted things, on Austin's dead. "I'm going to have to ban you from the beach – we've had a lot of complaints." Austin turned red, this was the first time anything like this had ever happened to him, and it was quite embarrassing. "And tell your girlfriend"—briefly, he paused to wonder why so many people – okay, two – thought that they were a couple. But it didn't matter because they were just friends and Ally was with _Dallas_, anyway—"that taking toys from five year-olds is not okay."

Austin didn't have the heart to correct him and just nodded, walking back dejectedly to where Trish and Dez were building a sandcastle. "I got kicked off the beach," he stated baldly. "Well, Ally and I did."

"What did you do?" Trish asked in interest. "Even I didn't get kicked off the beach when I worked here and I almost let someone drown…"

"We had a splash fight," Austin exclaimed. "It wasn't put fault that people didn't know when to duck 'n' cover."

"You tell 'em, Austin," said an amused voice behind him: Ally. "We'd better go." Sighing, but accompanying their friends, Trish and Dez began to pack up the blankets, picnic basket, and towels.

. . .

"You got kicked off the beach?" Steve repeated an hour later, after he and his wife had finally managed to coax the story out of the tight lipped teens: they had barely spoken since Dez had called for them to be picked up.

Ally blushed, "Well, Austin and I had a splash war, and it didn't end well." Monica smiled and exchanged a glance with her husband, and they both looked around at Austin and Ally.

"Sounds like you guys had fun," Monica winked. The two teens refused to acknowledge each other, choosing instead to analyse, with great interest and detail, the exact pattern of the ceiling.

"Right," Dez said into the awkward silence.

"I think we should watch a movie," Trish said thoughtfully. "Something funny, and classic, of course."

"Like Ferris Bueller's Day Off?" Steve grinned; the movie had been a personal favourite of his, as it had come out when he was a teenager, it was the equivalent of today's 'Mean Girls'.

"What's that?" Ally spoke up, looking bewildered.

Four pairs of horrified met her confused brown ones. "You want to tell me that you haven't seen it?" Austin asked slowly, as if he wanted to make sure.

"Yeah, I haven't even heard of it." Ally still looked confused. "Is that a song or something?" Both Dez and Steve made identical motions and clutched their hearts, as if in mortal pain – Trish and Monica just rolled their eyes at the males' antics.

"I know which movie we're watching tonight," Dez crowed. "I'll go grab the popcorn." He left the living room, and under his breath, they could hear him muttering things like 'travesty' and 'it's a classic' and 'I thought everyone's heard of it' and 'I wonder how dog food tastes….'

"We'll be in our room," Monica said, rolling her eyes at Steve, who still hadn't moved. "Call if you need anything.

"You know," Ally commented once they were seated in the living room, with Dez still popping the popcorn. "I still don't know exactly what this 'Ferry Boiler'—"

"Bueller, Ally!" Dez called. "_Ferris Bueller_."

"Right," Ally said sardonically. "_Him_. I still don't know who he is."

"It's a movie," Austin explained gently. "It was like, the Michael Jackson of teen movies at the time."

"Oh," Ally said.

They were quiet for a few moments, and Dez came in, holding three bags of popcorn and a large pickle jar, as per Ally's request.

"I like pickles," she said defensively to Austin's raised eyebrows. "What? A woman can't like brine-soaked cucumbers anymore?"

"You, Ally Dawson, are truly a unique human being," Austin laughed. Ally rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue at him, and Dez started the movie.

"You can say that again," Trish muttered, casting Ally a fond look. "You won't eat a chilly dog, but you like pickles covered in peanut butter?"

Ally held her snack to her chest defensively, as if she was carrying a baby. "I like pickles," she said, as if that justified it. Austin gave a look that said, what can you say?

"Guys, shhh!" Dez took his seat next to Trish and the movie began to play.

Ally sighed, leaning backwards, and – unbeknownst to her – closer to Austin. This, she decided, this was the best way to spend your summer nights. Lazy trips to the beach, and movies with pickles and peanut butter. She had a feeling that she could get used to Dez, Trish, and Austin.

As she thought of Austin, her heart thumped a little harder as she remembered what he's said on the beach – they were _friends_ now.

She had a feeling that she and Austin were going to be friends for a very long time.

.

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* * *

a/n: I hope you liked this ridiculously fluffy and dallas free chapter! Next chapter will be a bit longer, as it'll cover more time, and it'll have bits from the actual show.

**PLEASE DO NOT FAVOURITE OR ALERT WITHOUT LEAVING A REVIEW, honestly, it annoys the heck out of me when I see ten favourites and two reviews – and sometimes the people who reviewed aren't even the ones that favourited it! I was honestly considering just not updating the fic unless I get a set number of reviews, but I didn't think that was fair to my faithful reviewers, but as an author, it is very frustrating, but if need be, I will do that.**

/rant over

Until next time,

Madeline (overstreets)


	5. iv

**a/n: **Okay, I would have updated it faster, but I had school today, and I had to get five needles yesterday so my arm kills, and today was my brother's birthday, so I was quite busy.

Anyway, I think that you'll like this chapter if you like Auslly duets and bonding, and also lots and lots of fluff It's a super short chapter, , because this plot bunny just hit me – but I promise that next chapter will be really long, it's a long weekend, anyway, so I'll have time to update.

And now I'm adding bits from the actual show's plotline to this story, to interweave it with canon.

Oh, and if you want to guess what song they sing, the title gives you a clue. ;)

And THANK YOU for the crazy influx of reviews last chapter – it actually made me feel so bad that I didn't have a chapter ready for you, so I promise to get the next one ASAP.

PLEASE DO NOT FAVOURITE OR ALERT WITHOUT LEAVING A REVIEW.

I don't own Austin & Ally, which belongs to Disney, and I don't own the quote at the beginning, which is from Paper Towns by the amazing John Green.

* * *

Chapter Four: You've Been Hit By, You've Been Struck By

"_here's what's not beautiful about it: from here, you can't see the rust or the cracked paint or whatever, but you can tell what the place really is. you can see how fake it all is. it's not even hard enough to be made out of plastic. it's a paper town. i mean, look at it, q: look at all those culs-de-sac, those streets that turn in on themselves, all the houses that were built to fall apart. all those paper people living in their paper houses, burning the future to stay warm. all the paper kids drinking beer some bum bought for them at the paper convenience store. everyone demented with the mania of owning things. all the things paper-thin and paper-frail. and all the people, too. i've lived here for eighteen years and i have never once in my life come across anyone who cares about anything that matters."_

— **paper towns** ; john green

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* * *

**Ally**

For once Miss Allyson—"It's Ally!"—Dawson, life had settled down, in a fashion, since she had arrived in the sunny Florida town. In the morning, she'd wake up and have breakfast with her father – often pancakes – and then she'd either head over to Trish's—who had somehow managed to be fired from eight jobs that week—or go to work at Sonic Boom. She liked working; not only did it provide her with a sense of fulfillment, but it also gave her time to spend with Austin – not that she'd ever admit that to herself. They had become quite good friends, and it was not uncommon for Austin to have dinner with Ally and Lester, or vice versa. She pretended not to notice the looks that Austin's mother, Stephanie, was giving his father, Norm, as if their friendship was something more.

Ally groaned again, all these thoughts of Austin and herself and _AustinandAlly_ merging into her mind to create a headache. Her dark hair was fanned out and contrasted with the pale purple pillows, which had been fluffed repeatedly that night. She sat up finally, calling sleep a lost cause as she shuffled around in her pajamas, looking for her monkey slippers. She checked the clock and then groaned, 6:30AM. The eager sun had already begun its slow ascent across the room, slowly bathing the room in its fiery incandescence. She would never be able to get to sleep now; that was for sure, and so, stifling a yawn, she began to dress in a bright sundress with a short vest. Her dad was out for the day, off at a music festival in Orlando, and Ally slightly regretted declining his offer for her to join him.

Slowly making her way down the partially-lit staircase, Ally blinked at the sudden burst of sunshine through the French doors which led to the backyard. "'Mornin'," a voice said, startling Ally out of her thoughts.

"Wha—?" Ally's senses, dull from being awake all night, were slow in realizing that there was a figure behind her, and she jumped in fright.

"Whoa, Ally-cat, are you okay? You look pale," the voice said.

By now, Ally had figured out where the voice was coming from, and sent it her most venomous glare. "Oh, sorry I'm a little bit surprised that you broke into my house at six in the morning on a Saturday, Austin!"

Austin seemed unrepentant. "It's not my fault I'm a Smooth Criminal!"

"Not funny," Ally snapped, giving him the death glare which would have had any normal person running out the door – but since when was Austin normal? He shot her another cocky grin, and pulled out of nowhere, his guitar. "How did you get in here? We have an alarm!"

"Again, I told you, I'm a Smooth Criminal," he began strumming the beginning chords of a familiar song. A song that was too familiar. "_As he came into the window, it was the sound of a crescendo_ –"

"Really, Austin?" Ally raised an eyebrow at her friend in shock, "does everything you do have to relate to a song?" But she was smiling and they both knew that she wasn't really mad. She was itching to sing along, having been a huge fan of Michael Jackson, but refrained, remembering their duet.

"This isn't a love song," a voice in the back of her mind pointed out, "I mean, what's romantic about murder?" For once, Ally decided to heed the voice – after all, she and Austin were friends now, something that they hadn't been at the time, and except for that offhand comment as he had left her house that Tuesday, he had never mentioned kissing her. It was a clean slate.

Austin didn't seem to notice – or chose not to comment – on her internal battle, and had continued singing, still strumming along to an electric rock version of the classic hit, "_He came into her apartment, he left the bloodstains on the carpet."_

Ally ran out of the kitchen for a second, and then returned with a large cello case, "I had to practice today, anyway," she said with a grin, noticing his bewildered expression. "No hard feelings, right?"

He merely grinned at her, showing his blinding smile, "_She ran underneath the table, he could see she was unable, so she ran into the bedroom, she was struck down, it was her doom._" Ally giggled at this, only Austin would think of waking her up with a song about a serial killer. He winked at her, as if he knew what she was thinking, and she found herself blushing.

"Annie, are you ok?" Ally joined in, and although this wasn't the first time they'd sung together, their voices still swirled together perfectly. The cell and guitar also added a slightly edgy feel to the song.

"So, _Ally_, are you ok?" Austin put an emphasis on her name and the girl in question's eyes widened almost comically.

"Are you ok, Ally?" she sang her part perfectly, and they repeated this back and forth part several times before Austin turned his attention solely to his guitar – this was always a hard part to master.

"_Ally are you ok? Will you tell us that you're ok_?" This time, there was no movement whatsoever, just the two, standing a few feet apart from each other, with their eyes locked interchangeably between their instruments and each other. "_There's a sign at the window, that he struck you - a crescendo Ally, he came into your apartment, he left the bloodstains on the carpet, then you ran into the bedroom, you were struck down, it was your doom_." The sun was slowly inching its way across the kitchen tile, and still the two did nothing but stare at each other—they'd even stopped staring at their instruments, their fingers just working their way to their respective strings—"_Ally, are you ok_?" Austin asked, raising an eyebrow and she echoed him. Once again, it was like a game of ping-pong as they asked about Ally's well-being, and then Ally, who looked away from Austin for the first time in that entire duet, sang, "_You've been hit by_—"

Austin copied her, "_You've been hit by_—"

"_A smooth criminal_!" they chorused. Ally abandoned her cello, leaning it leaning against the table, and Austin left his guitar on the counter—now it was just them and the music.

"_So they came into the out way, it was Sunday, what a black day_," Austin sang, his voice the only noise in the kitchen. _"Mouth to mouth resuscitation, sounding heartbeats, Intimidations_." Ally shivered slightly, his voice was … good; _beyond_ good, in fact. It made her want to laugh and cry and sing and wish on stars, all at the same time.

Ally started now, and her voice was so ethereal that Austin found himself momentarily unable to speak. "_Ally are you ok_?" They tossed that back and forth a few times, smiling at each other.

"_Ally are you ok? Will you tell us? That you're ok_?" they sang this together, their voices drifting into the morning air. "_There's a sign in the window, that he struck you - a crescendo Ally_!" Their last duet had absolutely nothing on this – the dark passion of this song made it all the more beautiful. "_He came into your apartment, left the bloodstains on the carpet, then you ran into the bedroom, you were struck down, it was your doom_."

They began singing back and forth again – and they realized that every time they sang this, their voices melted together more into a delicious harmony, and then Ally sang, "_You've been hit by_—"

"_You've been struck by_—"

"_A smooth criminal_!" Despite this being a physically gruelling song to master, and the fact that both of them were panting by this time, neither felt the urge to stop.

Austin grabbed his abandoned guitar again, and began playing the famous guitar riff, giving Ally a chance to get a sip of water.

She stared singing again after about half a minute, her voice sounding far away, "_I don't know_!"

"_Ally, are you ok_?" Austin replied, as if this was a normal conversation. "_Will you tell us that you're ok? There's a sign at the window_ –"

Here Ally interjected with another, "_I don't know_!"

"_That he struck you - a crescendo, Ally_!"

"_I don't know_!" her voice was becoming louder, more passionate.

"_He came into your apartment_!"

"_I don't know_!"

"_He left the bloodstains on the carpet_!" he sang with all his might,

"_I don't know why, baby_," she sang back to him.

"_Then you ran into the bedroom_!"

"_I don't know_!"

"_You were struck down, it was your doom, Ally! Ally, are you ok_?" Austin sang like a concerned partner.

"_Dad Gone It - Baby_!" she interrupted.

"_Will you tell us that you're ok_?" he pressed.

"_Dad Gone It - Baby_!"

"_There's a sign at the window_ –"

"_Dad Gone It - Baby_!"

"_That he struck you - a crescendo, Ally_," he looked at her seriously.

"_Hoo, hoo_!" Ally shrieked.

"_He came into your apartment_ – " Austin tried.

"_Dad Gone It_ – " Ally injected.

"_He left the bloodstains on the carpet, then you ran into the bedroom –_" Austin knew that the song was coming to an end, but he still frowned. Singing with Ally was fun.

"_Hoo, hoo!"_

"_You were struck down_," he sang his last few lines, looking her right in the eye.

"_Dad Gone It_ – "

"_It was your doom,"_ he finished, staring at Ally.

"_You've been hit by_—!"

"_You've been struck by—_!"

"_A smooth criminal_," they finished the song with heaving chests, both staring at the other, as if expecting the other to make the first move.

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* * *

**Austin**

"Do you want water?" Ally asked him, walking to the stash of water bottles in the pantry, Austin nodded and she returned a moment later with a bottle, which he gulped down quickly. "You're a really good singer," she said finally, looking at Austin. "Like, a _really_ good singer."

Normally, Austin would have been proud, and would have made some arrogant comment, but it was _Ally_ he was talking to, so he just smiled and said, "Thanks. I wanted to be a musician—"

"Wanted?" Ally paused, frowning. "As in – past tense?"

"Yeah," Austin sighed.

"You're really good, though," Ally frowned. "Why not anymore?"

"My dad," Austin sighed, really wishing that she hadn't brought it up. "He doesn't like the fact that I wanted to be a musician – he thinks that it's a fickle career."

"Well your dad is right," Ally said, surprising Austin. She must have noticed the wounded look he gave her, however, and continued quickly, "It is a fickle career; very few people stay in it their whole lives – "

"And this is supposed to make me feel better?" Austin snapped, glaring at Ally. She looked so hurt that he quickly muttered, "Sorry."

" – but if it's your dream, then who is anyone to say you can't," Ally finished.

"I guess," Austin said slowly. "But I've tried everything – open auditions, YouTube, playing at birthday parties … and the only thing I've gotten was the chicken pox."

"Why don't you try writing your own songs?" Ally asked him. He blushed.

"I've tried that, too, but I can't write songs," he said, somewhat lamely, in his opinion.

Ally was quiet for a moment, as if deep in thought, and then she let out a gasp. "I know! We can be partners – "

"Partners?" Austin asked, misinterpreting her proposition and raising an eyebrow, cheeks flaming red.

"Not that kind!" Ally now realized what she had said sounded like, and also blushed. "I mean, we could be music partners –"

"You want to be a musician, too?" Austin asked her; he then realised that it must have been quite a stupid question to ask – she played four instruments, and her father owned a music store. "Never mind."

"Well," Ally said thoughtfully. "Not exactly a musician – I hate the spotlight."

"How could anyone hate the spotlight?" Austin asked, wonderstruck by the very idea of it. Ally shot him a dirty look.

"Stage fright, remember?"

"Oh, right." He blushed again.

"Anyway, I want to be a songwriter – I have a book full of unfinished songs, and completed songs, and I wanted someone to perform them for me – someone who will give me credit, and, oh, Austin, this is perfect!" she laughed and then hugged him tight.

His heart seemed to go into overdrive then, all that was in his mind was _AllyAllyAlly_—with her passionate voice and star struck eyes, and beautiful face—and then she let go of him, and he could breathe again.

"So what do you say?" she asked him eagerly. "Partners?"

"Partners," Austin responded with a grin.

"Oh, let me show you my new song!" Ally said, excited. Austin nodded at her, and she scurried to find her book. When she returned, just a moment later, she clutched to her chest an old, leather book.

"Oh, let me see," Austin said, reaching out to grab it. She glared at him with such ferocity, however, that he backed off with a yelp. "Sorry."

"It's okay," she said with a grin. "Just don't ever touch my notebook again. Ever. Or there will be hell to pay." The look on her face said that she wasn't exaggerating.

He nodded, still nervous.

She grabbed him by the wrist and began tugging him to the living room, where there was a keyboard with several haphazard music sheets nearby, obviously belonging to Ally. "This is the first one I wrote," she said, and she began to play – "_You don't know, know, know, my name, name, name—"_

"No, no, no!" Austin interrupted her. She glared at him, irritated.

"What?"

"It's too slow – we need something more upbeat," he said, raising his arms in weak protest.

"Since when are you the songwriter here?" Ally snapped.

Austin was unfazed. "Since we became partners."

Ally sighed. "Fine, then. What do you think we should do?"

"Well …" Austin said mysteriously, picking up his trusty guitar. "Now that you mention it …"

He began playing the opening chords, this time in an almost punk-rock version, and sang, "_They wanna know know know your name name name, they want the girl girl girl_ –"

Ally, who by now had figured out what he was doing, also joined in, "_With game game game, and when they look look look your way way way, you're gonna make (make) make (make), make 'em do a double take_!"  
"Wow, Austin," she grinned after she'd finished writing the chords down. "That was amazing!"

"You were amazing," Austin said sincerely. "Without you, I wouldn't have even thought of adding a little rock!"

"We're both amazing," Ally said, trying to hide her blush, "That's why we're partners!"

"I sense our first number one!" Austin crowed, raising his water bottle up in a toast. "To our success as partners – music partners, of course!"

"To our success!" Ally echoed, bumping her bottle against his and smiling. "We make a great team."

"Yeah, we do," Austin grinned. "Hey, are you working today?"

"No, why?" Ally questioned.

"Because," Austin grinned. "You're coming with me today, partner. We're going to have fun!"

"What do you mean by –" Ally began but Austin just winked.

"Guess you'll just have to wait and find out then, Ally-cat."

Ally smiled at him, and it felt like the most natural thing in the world – it felt like they were infinite.

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* * *

**a/n:** Yes, as an 'I'm sorry!' gift for writing this chapter so late, I made this chapter full of Auslly fluff—but there's a bit of a shocker next chapter, because I love angst.

And the Smooth Criminal duet – I couldn't help myself, Auslly duets are so cute and Smooth Criminal, and the Sebtana cover of it. I was just in an MJ/Glee mode, okay? And I don't own the song.

There begins the bits of the show's canon – their partnership. Hmmmm, I wonder how Dez and Trish are going to react about it. And Dallas…?

Yes, I know, I am evil. ;)

And where is Austin taking Ally? Find out in the next chapter!

DO NOT FAVOURITE OR ALERT WITHOUT REVIEWING

Always yours,

Madeline (overstreets)


	6. v

**author's note: **yes—I'm not dead, yet, at least, but before you throw rotten fruit at me, I just want to say that I have a very good reason for my absence. Well, unless you don't count the death of an immediate family member and a seven week long trip to Africa and insane writers block a good reason, 'cause then I have no excuse. Anyway, I'm back now, and that's all that matters, right? And I've determined the main story arc, and in total, this fic will be about fifteen chapters (prologue + 13 + epi(c)logue), and I'm kind of working backwards at the epilogue and last two chapters, now.

Anyway, I own nothing, as usual, and enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Chapter Five: Beautiful

"i_f only you saw what I could see / you'd understand why I want you so desperately / right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe / you don't know / you don't know you're beautiful / that's what makes you beautiful."_

- **what makes you beautiful** ; one direction

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* * *

**Ally**

"Can you at least tell me if we're almost there, Austin?" Ally panted, trying—and failing—to keep up with Austin's long strides. They had been climbing forever, at least to her, but Austin seemed to have no notion of slowing down or stopping, and Ally, who wasn't used to the strenuous physical activity, was panting to keep up.

"Nope," Austin said intrepidly, popping the 'p' in a way that made Ally want to strangle him with a nearby weed. It seemed that he read her mind, however, and he quickly added, "fine, we're almost there, Ally. Don't worry, it'll be worth it."

"For your sake, Austin Moon, it better be," Ally snarled through gritted teeth in a way that made Austin believe that she was capable of anything.

"Ten minutes—tops," Austin said, waving a hand airily. "At least this is great song-writing inspiration, right?"

"Huh?" Ally stared at him.

"Well, duh—people like John Lennon and Paul McCartney always said that they wrote their best songs when they were in nature, didn't they?" Austin shot back, confused.

"I'm not John Lennon, Austin," Ally said through gritted teeth, "last time I checked."

"Okay, okay, calm down, Ally-cat," Austin said in a placating voice. Ally made no response, and for a few minutes, the only sound that could be heard was their two sets of feet trampling the undergrowth. Ally looked up at Austin, and she had to admit he was quite good looking—the sun, which had just began its rise, orange and large in the sky, danced into his golden hair, making it the colour of candlelight—

"Like what you see?" Austin said with a smirk when Ally's eyes met his. Ally blushed a dark crimson.

"I was just — "

"It's okay to admit that you want a bit of Moonbeam," Austin said in that arrogant voice that made her want to smack him—but was also quite endearing at the same time. "Everyone—ladies and gentlemen—wants some, too, so don't be ashamed."

"Get bent," she muttered at him, throwing a weed at him.

"I'd rather not, thanks," he retorted, dodging her dandelion attack. "I swear, Ally, if your put any of those dandelion weeds in my hair—it will be the last thing you do."

"Oh," Ally said with a grin that was too innocent to be trusted. "You mean like _this_?" And with that, she threw a handful of weeds at Austin who managed to dodge most, but not all of them, and Austin turned to glare at Ally with an annoyed scowl.

"Miss Allyson Dawson," he smirked as he said her full name, as she shot him a dirty look, "I don't think you should have done that." He launched a full scale weed attack on his songwriter, unleashing fury only known to the guardians of Hell, and the two of them finally collapsed, laughing, when they were good and covered in dandelion seeds. "Oh, and we're here."

Ally turned to see exactly what here was, and gasped. A crevasse like she had never seen before was in front of her, glinting in the light of the early morning sun. "Oh my God." It was worth the hour long journey, _almost_, Ally thought, glancing around her, wonderstruck. It was like something off a _Disney Earth_ film—untouched beauty, not yet sullied by human residue, "I can't—oh my God." Austin wisely made no 'I told you so,' remarks, but just let her stare at the gorge. "Austin—I love this."

"Aren't _you_ little Miss Coherency?" Austin couldn't help himself from butting in at this point, and the resounding smack from Ally made it almost worth it. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry, Miss Coherency." Ally rolled her eyes at him, but smiled.

"What time is it?" she asked him, hoping he'd brought his watch.

"'Bout nine o'clock," Austin said seriously. "Do you want to have of the sandwiches now—or save them for later?"

"Why don't we wait a few hours," Ally suggested, glancing at Austin, "unless you're dying of hunger—in that case, let's feed them to the birds!" Austin threw a long, thin, green weed at her, which she shrieked and dodged.

"Austin Moon, you are so going down!" Ally squealed and jumped on him, dropping her phone onto the grass. As Austin skillfully dodged and ducked out of her grasp, Ally laughed. She couldn't imagine ever having this much fun with Lucy or even Dallas, nothing like this spontaneous, in the heat of the moment, craziness that she and Austin always seemed to have.

She felt a small pang of sadness and another feeling—one she couldn't exactly tell—once she remembered that Austin, Trish, and Dez would stay here over the year, possibly forgetting about her, while she'd go back to California with Lucy and Dallas, and somehow that didn't seem as appealing as it had at the beginning of the summer.

After all, what would she do if she'd stayed in California? According to Dallas' daily and informative (read: annoying) updates, he and "the guys" did the same thing every day, breaking a few times to go to a party, or _Disneyland_. Every day with the gang, as she affectionately called them, was crazy and filled with its own mishaps. "Okay, okay, truce," she called as she plopped down on the grass, exhausted.

"You're just calling a truce because you're going to lose," Austin said with a wink as he sat beside her on the grass. Ally made no reply, but flicked his hair. He helped, "Ally! Do you _know_ how long it takes to get this naturally windblown look? Some people have no appreciation for great art," he complained, fixing his hair. Ally rolled her eyes.

"Why don't you just shut up, Austin?"

"I don't know the meaning of the word, actually," Austin quipped.

"Why am I not surprised?" Ally mumbled. "Haven't you ever just sat down and just looked at the clouds?"

"Uh—" Austin paused, "no."

"Why?" Ally asked him, "it's so poetic."

"Nooo," Austin said with a disagreeing shake of the head, "it's so _boring_."

"It is not," Ally argued, "just shut up and watch—you see? That one—no, that one right there—looks like a rabbit."

"No, it looks like a cloud," Austin shook his head.

"Are you always this disagreeable?" Ally asked.

"Nope," Austin deadpanned. "This is just a waste of time, though."

"Really?" Ally raised an eyebrow. "Because this _waste of time_ is going to write your songs, Mr. Austin Moon."

"Waste of time? I meant—uhm—great, fun time," Austin added hurriedly, his face turning red. Ally leaned back, satisfied.

"I thought so. Now shut up and watch the clouds." He sighed; giving Ally one last pleading look, but the brunette was unrelenting.

"Wow—look at that, it looks like a dinosaur, cool!" Austin blurted out suddenly, pointing to a rather large cloud right above them. Ally laughed.

"No, it looks like a—wow, you're actually right," she said, smirking. "That's a first." He shot her a half-hearted glare.

"Oh, shut up," he grumbled.

"No thanks," the corners of her lips twitched upwards. "I'd rather not."

"Does this really give you inspiration?" Austin asked after a few minutes, "like, really?"

Ally stared at him, as if wondering if he was being serious or not. "Of course."

"How?" he asked, "It's pretty and stuff, but I don't see how this could be a good song, y'know?"

"Yeah, I suppose for some people you're right, Austin, but I don't know—when my parents were still together, my dad would take me out to the pond or something, and we'd make up silly songs and rhymes about the people and the animals there."

"How cute," Austin grinned. "I wish I had your inspiration."

"It is okay, Austin, because you're kind of awesome," she replied, giving him a smile that made his heart start thumping like it had only learned how to at that moment.

"Do you want lunch, now?" Austin asked her. She didn't seem to notice the moment that had just passed between them—or maybe she had noticed, but she was just ignoring it, for his sake.

"Sure, why not," she said in an offhand voice, her mind obviously on something else. "What did you bring?"

"Pickles and peanut butter," he grinned at her. She gave him a skeptical look. "No, really—pickles and PB & J sandwiches. An oldie but a goodie." She laughed again.

"Definitely," she managed between giggles. "Well—pass me some. I like pickles."

"I know you do, Ally," he chortled. "Everyone who has ever come into contact with you for more than a minute knows you do." She hit his arm—hard. "Ow! Can you _not_ abuse me for, like, ten minutes?"

"What's the fun in that?" she retorted.

"Here's your sandwich," he said, changing the subject. He passed her a sandwich slathered in peanut butter and jelly with a pickle on top, punctured by a toothpick.

"Wow—Austin, I love you—" she squealed, and both their faces flamed red. "I mean—I love this, wow, thank you." She sighed, taking a bite out of her sandwich. Why did things have to be so complicated? Sometimes, she and Austin would be like brother and sister—or not, somehow, she and Austin as siblings didn't fit well into her mind—but then sometimes, it would be like Austin wanted to be more.

But did _she_ want it to be more? Austin was quite attractive, that was true; he was funny, even more true; and he was a great friend—all things she'd want in someone to date.

But then there was Dallas. Did she like Dallas—yes, he definitely had his moments. Did she like the prestige that dating Dallas gave her around school—yes, even though she wasn't particularly interested in popularity. If she'd been asked even a month ago who her dream boyfriend would be, Dallas' name could spring to the tip of her tongue immediately, but now —

The more time she spent away from Dallas, the more she could realize his flaws, the flaws she'd been blind to when she was at home in California. Like how self-centered he could be at times, not purposely, but he seemingly didn't know when to give another person time to talk. At home, this hadn't been a problem, as she was often quiet, but there were times when she'd want to tell him a funny story about something that happened with Dez or one of Trish's crazy escapades, but he'd never give her a chance to speak.

There was also the fact that he knew almost nothing about her—not her favourite colour nor her favourite book, he probably didn't even know that she wrote songs. And he had never bothered to find out, even though she, Ally, had gone through hours of research, looking up topics of interest about things he was involved in.

He didn't treat her like he was worth it, most of the time, and yet, whenever another guy so much as glanced at her, he'd become insanely jealous. Was she nothing more than a trophy girlfriend to him?

And then there was Austin. Somehow, inexplicably, her cheeks warmed at the thought of this crazy, brilliant boy sitting beside her, eating his sandwich and picking at daisies, not saying a word. Sometimes, he infuriated her. Sometimes, she annoyed him. But all the time, they were there for each other. It seemed strange that people so different could be friends, in her opinion, but she couldn't think of what she would have done if they weren't friends—and, really, they weren't that different, after all.

She attempted to covertly glance at him out of the corner of her eye—only to find that he was doing the same. Turning red, she focused on her sandwich, thinking about Dallas and Austin.

"Ally?" he asked her suddenly, she jumped slightly but turned back to face him.

"Hmm?"

"How do you know when you've got a crush on someone?"

Now it was her turn to blush: why was he asking this? "Well, you feel butterflies—or your stomach feels like it's doing cartwheels, and when you're with that person you're happy. Why?"

"No—no reason," he mumbled, turning crimson. There was something he wasn't telling her, she deduced.

"Austin?" she probed after a few moments of lengthy silence.

"Yeah?" he replied.

"I'm glad I came to visit my dad this summer—if I hadn't, I would be going to the beach every day to watch Dallas and his Neanderthal friends"—Austin couldn't help but chuckle at that—"build sandcastles and terrorize children, but instead I'm here with you – I mean, _you guys_." And she meant it; this summer, so far, hadn't been as horrible as she'd expected.

"That's great, Ally," he beamed at her, "I'm really glad you're here, too."

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**Austin**

There was no way—no honest to goodness way—that he could have a crush on Ally. It wasn't possible. Ally was his _friend_—emphasis on friend, he kept reminding himself, and she had a boyfriend – one who was a total douche, but a boyfriend nonetheless – and she was his _friend_.

"Austin, are you okay? You're being kind of quiet; it's kind of scary!" the aforementioned girl asked him playfully, nudging his ribs with her elbow. He forced a grin onto his face, and nudged her back.

"I'm just thinking of ways I could totally own you in another paint ball fight," he lied, bringing up the fight that had occurred between Trish, Dez, Ally, and himself the previous day. His mother had literally not allowed him to come onto the house, and he'd had to hose himself off by the back door before his mother would allow him back in.

"Just like you owned me in _yesterday's_ fight?" Ally laughed, her voice sounding like music. He had to remind himself to breathe—Ally was a friend, only a friend, nothing more.

"I let you win!" he argued, rolling his eyes.

She laughed sarcastically, "Oh, really, Mr. 'Please, Ally, have mercy!'?"

He blushed. "That wasn't one of my finer moments, I'll agree."

"No, it really wasn't," she sighed, laying her head on his shoulder like it was the most natural thing in the entire universe. His entire body leaned closer to her, and they sat like that, side by side, watching the sun ascend slowly up, making shadows of ordinary objects, making them poetic and beautiful.

He could smell her shampoo—something like freesias and cinnamon—and it took all it had not to hold her closer, but she's just a friend, he reminded himself, and she doesn't feel the same way about him, except —

Sometimes, just sometimes, when he'd catch her looking at him through his peripheral vision, she'd have a look on her face, like she _did_ like him—the way he was starting to like her. He remembered their renditions of_ Lucky_ and _Smooth Criminal_, their trip to the beach, their new music partnership.

"We should go now," she said, checking her watch. "I promised Dal—uh, I have to Skype someone soon."

He bristled unconsciously, remembering. "Oh, right, Dallas," he said in a light, casual voice that was too light and casual to be sincere. "We'd better go, then." He stood up and brushed himself off, but Ally stayed sitting biting her lip, and looking up at him like she'd very much like to say something.

"Austin — " she began, but Austin merely held out a hand to help her up.

"Let's go, Ally," he said, giving her a smile that was so fake it made Paris Hilton look real. "We can talk later."

She frowned, gathering up the remains of their picnic. "Okay."

_Why do I have to be such an idiot?_ he thought as he watched his friend, his partner, his somewhat crush, his Ally-cat, pick up their trash. He couldn't blame her for being excited to talk to her boyfriend—except, she _hadn't_ sounded excited, not like the first few days where she'd say, 'I can't wait to tell Dallas this!' or 'Dallas would think this is so funny!', now she seemed to think of it the way someone would think of doing the dishes; like a chore, which, although it wasn't particularly enjoyable, one must endure of the sake of hygiene.

He was so immersed in his thoughts that he didn't notice that he was pacing, until, that is, he almost stepped on a daisy chain crown. "What—?" he mumbled to himself, picking it up.

It looked like the kind of crown that his younger cousins would make, and it seemed to be in good shape. Adding a few daisies to it, he walked back to Ally, the hand with the crown still behind his back. "Hey, Ally-cat," he said with a grin reminiscent of the Cheshire cat.

"Hi, Austin," she smiled back at him, but kept a wary eye on the hand behind his back, "what do you have there?"

"Nothing," Austin said in an innocent voice. "But you do know that you're a princess, right?"

"Austin — " she began, blushing to the roots of her wavy brown hair.

"And every princess needs a crown," he continued, pretending as if he hadn't heard her. "And here's yours, Princess Ally." With that, he pulled the daisy chain crown from behind his back, and, with a flourish, presented it to Ally.

She stared at him, uncomprehending, for a few moments, and then she hugged him with all her might. "Thank you, Austin, you're so sweet."

"I'm not sweet," he managed to mumble, but he was blushing.

"And you've given me an idea for a song, too," she grinned, her eyes sparkling as he placed the crown on her head gingerly.

"That's great," he laughed genuinely. "Now let's get out of here!"

She nodded and picked up the picnic basket, walking back to the clearing they'd entered through. After a moment, Austin picked up the rest of the stuff and followed her.

Yep, if there was one thing that Austin Moon was certain of at this moment in time, it was that he had perfect hair. But if there was _another_ thing that he was certain of, it would be that he was definitely falling for Ally Dawson.

.

The two walked down the grassy hill leading back to Austin's house, holding hands for support—at least that's what he told himself.

"Want to play a game?" she asked suddenly, stopping for a second.

He glanced at her, unsure, "What kind of game?"

"Two truths and a lie," she said with an innocent smile.

He frowned. "I've never played it before; how do you play?"

She stared at him incredulously, "Really? You've never played it before?"

"_No_—I have played it before, I'm just lying to you in hopes of having you explain the rules to me again," Austin muttered sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Okay, _okay_—well, one person will say three sentences, and two will be true, one will be a lie, and the job of the other person is to decide which is true and which isn't," she explained, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"You start," he urged her.

"Hmm—okay. Let's see: I've never had a pet; pickles are my favourite food; I don't like your hair," she said the last part with a wicked gleam in her eye, and he tried to appear mad, but it was Ally, so he couldn't ever be really angry at her, not really.

"Well, it's obviously the first one, because everyone likes my hair," he grinned, giving said hair an affectionate pat. She rolled her eyes but smiled.

"Sure, sure, Austin. Now it's your turn."

"Uh—I've never been out of the country; I have a pet camel; I think you're pretty," now it was his turn to embarrass her—and it worked, if the scarlet of her cheeks were any indication.

She tried to play it casual, to pretend that she wasn't blushing under his intense gaze, but it wasn't working and she just looked flustered. "You've never been out of the country?" she tried.

"Nope," he said, popping the 'p', "I went to Switzerland last year for Christmas."

"You think I'm pretty?" she queried as if she didn't really believe it.

"Yeah," his voice was soft for once; not commanding attention but casual and friendly, and she glanced up at him and saw only sincerity in his eyes. "I think you're beautiful, in fact."

If it was possibly, she turned even redder but did not break his gaze, "Really?"

"I've never been more honest," he whispered, "don't you ever think you're not beautiful, Ally Dawson. Ever. If there's anyone that makes you feel like you aren't beautiful, then they aren't worth it."

"Thanks, Austin," she murmured.

"No problem, Ally, you're an amazing friend—and person, and you've got to remember that," he said, jolting himself back to reality. They were just friends, he reminded himself, just friends, who'd shared a moment . . .

"Right," she said suddenly in a brisk, businesslike voice. "Well, I've got to get home. Are you coming?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you coming?" she repeated with the same curt voice, "you left your guitar at my house this morning, remember?"

"Oh, right," he mumbled, blushing slightly. "Yeah, let's go."

"Austin?" she asked after a few more minutes of consuming silence.

"Yeah?"

"I think you're an amazing friend, too," she leaned up and pecked his cheek.

His heart felt like it would burst out of his chest with how fast it was beating and his cheek felt like it was on fire, like there was electricity dancing on the part where her lips touched, and me barely managed a mumbled, "Thanks."

.

The second Ally opened Skype and accepted Dallas' video chat request, he began yelling. "Where the Hell have you _been_, Ally?"

"Dallas — " Ally began, her voice strangely detached and void of any emotion whatsoever, "I was busy — "

"Busy doing what?" Dallas scowled, "I've been waiting since one—the time that _you_ set for our video chat—for you to accept my damn video request, and what time is it now? It's quarter to two—I've been waiting for forty-five minutes, Ally! All because you were busy!"

"Dallas," Ally tried again in a soothing voice, "calm down, I was just at a picnic with Austin — "

"Oh, of course," Dallas scowled at her, "you're having picnics with the pretty boy over there and you expect me to calm down, well, guess what?—I won't calm down if my girlfriend is cheating on me!"

"I'm not cheating on you, Dallas," Ally hissed, her face also turning a shade of red, "and I can't believe you'd even suggest that!"

"Don't try and play innocent with me, Ally Dawson," Dallas jeered, his features twisted into an ugly grimace.

Austin, from his place in the living room, could hear every word going on in Ally's bedroom, and he was currently torn between staying here and pretending he couldn't hear a thing or going up there and giving Dallas a piece of his mind. He hummed Ally's song, _Double_ _Take_, as he waited for the blow up.

"I knew I should have listened to my friends when they said you were nothing but a loser, but against my better judgement, I began dating you," Dallas' voice was filled with disgust.

Ally said nothing, just stared at the screen where her boyfriend was ripping her self-esteem to shreds.

"I mean, you wouldn't even go to second base—I knew Tilly would have been better," he continued, "after all, you're such a stuck up bitch that — "

"Why don't you just shut up and leave her alone, Dallas?" Austin snarled, bursting into the room. He couldn't take it anymore, he couldn't, and hearing Dallas call Ally, his girlfriend, the one he was supposed to protect, a bitch—well, it had set him off. "She deserves much better than you, anyway!"

Dallas pretended he hadn't heard Austin's noisy arrival rant, the only indication of further agitation being his eyes which narrowed considerably, "Oh, yeah, I forgot—I takes two to cheat."

"You — " Austin began, about to release a full-on tirade against the other boy, but Ally stopped him with a gentle touch on his arm.

"I didn't cheat," Ally said, her voice full of quiet anger—the one you really have to be careful about, "And no one in their right mind will believe that I did – except maybe Tilly and her band of idiots – and it's funny, you're ripping on me about being a bad girlfriend, and meanwhile you've never even admitted—to me or your friends—that I was your girlfriend. I was just a toy to you, wasn't I? One that you could date and then dump whenever, hmm? Well, I'm done with that." She turned around to look at Austin and smiled at him, "I didn't cheat on you with Austin—but he'd be a much better boyfriend than you, any day and we are done, Dallas. Consider yourself deleted—permanently." Ally sat down on her bed, features sagging, as if the speech had been physically tolling for her.

Dallas' expression was one of shock and bewilderment, like it was impossible to believe that Ally had just broken up with him. "You—you can't — "

"She can't what?" Austin spoke up, glaring at Dallas. "She can do whatever she wants, it's a free country."

"You don't get it!" Dallas insisted, "_She_ can't break up with _me_—it's not — "

"She did, so suck it up, man," Austin scowled at the screen. "Ciao." He turned off the screen, whirling around to face Ally, who was motionless on the bed. "Ally — " he sat down beside her.

"Austin," she crumpled into him.

Neither of them said anything, he just put his arms around her and held her tight and it was _everything_.

.

.

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* * *

**author's note ii**: hopefully that was worth the wait, and if it wasn't, I'm working on the upcoming chapters, anyway, but I won't post it 'til I'm back in Canada.

Just curious, would anyone be interested in helping me co-run an AustinAlly prompt tumblr? Basically, people would submit Auslly story ideas, both canon and AU, and other fanfiction writers could write them, because I've noticed that the Austin & Ally fandom needs a little more diversity. I'd probably need about one or two people to help—PM me or tell me in a review!

Please **don't** favourite or alert without leaving a review!

Madeline (_overstreets_)


	7. vi

**author's note**: Another chapter and more Auslly! I hope you enjoyed the last chapter and the Dallas-drama and the breakup—I hope it met all of your expectations, because I worked super hard on that! Thanks for all the reviews!

Anyway, here's another chapter – not quite as fluffy but it has AusllyTrez bonding and more crushing!Austin and more things from the show, I suppose.

Thank you for all the reviews last chapter! You guys are all superawesomemegafoxyhot and totally awesome!

As usual, _Disney_ owns _Austin & Ally, P!nk_ owns _Perfect_, and _Project X_ is a real movie although it came out in March. I basically don't own anything that you recognize.

* * *

Chapter Six: Perfect

"_pretty, pretty please, don't you ever, ever feel / like you're less than / less than perfect / pretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feel / like you're nothing / you are something / to me."_

- **(fuckin') perfect ;** p!nk

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**Ally**

No matter how old she got, she'd never, ever, _ever_ be able to thank Austin enough from helping her—despite the fact that she'd refused to be helped—after the horrible breakup with Dallas. It wasn't like she couldn't see it coming – well, that wasn't the whole reason – but the idea that he'd thought she'd cheated on him . . . it was an insult to her character, really! She wasn't crying; there was no way she'd shed tears over losing a guy like him, but she was in shock. Austin's arms enveloped her in a warm embrace and it felt like there was nothing, no one, outside their little cocoon.

"Do you want to talk about how much of an idiot Dallas is?" Austin suggested, taking her silence for weeping. "And how stupid he was to let a girl like you go?" She could hear the protectiveness in his voice, that was obvious, but there was something else, too, something that she couldn't exactly understand . . . and when he'd said that Dallas was a feel for letting go of a girl like her. . .

A girl like her? She wasn't the type of girl that had miles upon miles of eager boys willing to date her, and the compliment made her blush. And then Ally remembered that he thought she was beautiful.

She'd been called a lot of things, a lot of complimentary names, in her life—smart, pretty, funny, intelligent, but Austin's beautiful was probably the most heartfelt and real and _honest_. He wasn't paying her a compliment because that was what you did when you were dating someone—he complimented her because he thought she actually deserved it, at least which was what she hoped.

"It's okay," she replied with a smile, "I already know he's an idiot." She purposely ignored the last part of his statement.

"So did I," Austin admitted with a sheepish grin, "If he'd been in the room instead of on the computer, I would have punched him, you know." She laughed.

"I know, Austin. Thanks."

His jaw was set—he was obviously still angry, "I wasn't just going to stand there while he spread lies about you—about us. What kind of boyfriend would he be if he couldn't even trust you?"

"Not a good one," Ally replied truthfully. It was funny—not in the _haha_ way, but in the sardonic, sarcastic way only known to teenagers—but as she thought on her relationship with Dallas, she realized that he'd always been insanely jealous of her – at the time, she'd been flattered, thinking it was protectiveness, but now, thinking of the way Austin defended her, she realized that _that_ was what protectiveness was. Not being so restrictive that any guy who so much as looked at your girlfriend would have to pay Hell, but just to stand by her—not forcibly help her, but lend a helping hand if need be.

"You can say that again," Austin smirked; his features relaxing into a warm smile that made her heart thump a little too fast. "But you do realize that you're going to go back there and face him again, right?"

"I know," Ally sighed, her posture deflating like a day old helium balloon, "And that's going to be the hard part—really hard, but I can do it. I won't let Dallas mess my life up."

"If you ever need anything," Austin said, letting the sentence trailed off.

"You'll be the first I'll call," Ally promised in all sincerity, and as she hugged him, her heart pounding in her ears, "I promise you that." And she realized it was true, somehow, through the two weeks she'd spent here so far, Austin had managed to become her best friend, her other half, and life without him—even if he was still in the country—seemed strange, foreign.

"Good," he said sincerely. "_Good_."

The sat in silence for a few more minutes, both thinking of the other and what they'd do once this summer was over, and how they'd manage the upcoming year by themselves, on their respective parts of the country.

"Wait—I just remembered, I thought of a song," Ally exclaimed suddenly, making Austin jump. She leapt up from Austin's arms, leaving them cold and empty, and ran to her song book, "Thank goodness I always bring this with me – otherwise I might have forgotten."

Austin smiled indulgently at her, "And then where would we be?"

"Without any songs," Ally retorted, but her eyes were smiling. "Come over here!" She sat down at the grand piano, scooting over to make room for him. "This one is called '_Break Down The Walls_'."

"And I inspired it?" Austin raised an eyebrow.

"No—_we_ inspired it. People think that people like us, who seem so different on the outside can't be friends, but we're the exception. All you have to do is break down the walls," Ally said, smiling widely.

Austin sighed, "Okay, let's hear it." Smiling at her, he added. "Seriously, though, Ally-cat, I like the idea of the song."

She blushed under the intensity of his gaze, "Okay, but it's not finished—I wanted you to try it, to see if my song writing and your singing are compatible, before I finished it."

She began to play and sing at the same time, "_Come on and take a chance, make a stand and break, break, break, break, down the walls_."

"_Break down the walls_," Austin echoed, looking at her with a look in his eyes that could only be called pure, unadulterated devotion, and then she blinked and it was gone, replaced by his usual expression. She tried to quell the flare of disappointment from within her.

"I think this is the beginning of a beautiful musical relationship," he said, smirking at her. "I love the song, Ally. It's amazing. Maybe cloud watching isn't useless, after all."

"I'll take that as a compliment," she grumbled, but the effect was ruined with her overlarge smile.

"Good—because it was," he grinned. The corners of her lips twitched and she had to fight to keep her laughter in. Sometimes, things were just so natural between them, like they'd known each other for their entire lives, and not just a few weeks —

"Sorry to interrupt this _Hallmark_ moment, lovebirds," a voice called from the doorway, "but Dez and I were going to Dairy Queen, and we wanted to know if you wanted to come." Austin and Ally both jumped, startled from the sudden noise, and scooted as far away from each other as the bench allowed, the moment ruined.

"Trish! We were writing songs here," Austin glared at his curly haired friend, who looked unrepentant. The mood that had settled between the musical duo was ruined now; they couldn't recapture the magic that, moments ago, had ensnared them.

"And how did you get into my house?" Ally scowled, "Is there, like, a secret entrance that everyone knows about _but_ me?"

Dez chuckled. "Actually — " But Trish silenced him with a dirty look.

"Perhaps," Trish smirked. "Anyway—_Dairy Queen_, in or out?"

"In," the two chorused after looking at each other.

"Good, 'cause Trish said you were paying," Dez piped up, grinning at Austin. Austin turned around to glare at Trish, who just gave him a guiltless smile.

Twenty minutes later, the four of them were crammed into a booth at Dairy Queen, Trish and Ally opposite Dez and Austin; if anyone was to walk by, they'd assume it was a double date. They had all just received their orders, and in between huge mouthfuls of a Brownie Earthquake Blizzard, Ally was repeating to Trish the important (read: scandalous) details about her breakup with Dallas. "No way," Trish repeated for the sixth time, "_No freaking way_."

"Yes way," Ally countered, "And he had the audacity to accuse me of cheating—with Austin of all people!" Her cheeks reddened at this, the thought of dating Austin, but it was not an entirely unpleasant feeling. Trish narrowed her eyes at the other girl, as if she could read Ally's thoughts.

"I almost bashed his head in," Austin said unconcernedly, as if this was regular dinnertime conversation.

"My hero," Ally smiled at him jokingly—but there was a serious undertone to it. Austin turned red and mumbled something no one could catch and looked down. Trish smirked at her from across the table.

"Did he put on a superman suit?" Dez asked her, effectively ending the awkwardness that had blanketed the table. Trish rolled her eyes, her laughter filling the room.

"Tights and all," Ally smirked, winking at Austin from the corner of her eye. He caught her eye as well, and he smiled back, making her go red and look away. Why were her palms suddenly sweating? Why was her heart in her throat? Why did Austin Moon do these things to her with just a simple gesture?

It was annoying, really, but it was also kind of nice.

Across the table, Austin realized that, as he watched Dez and Trish argue over something he didn't care about, the empty feeling he'd normally get—like there was someone else needed to complete the circle, was completely gone.

It was like, despite the fact that he'd known Ally for less than a month, he'd spent his whole life waiting for someone like her to fill this void.

.

"I'm going to drop my guitar at home; do you guys want to come?" Austin asked as they left the Dairy Queen.

"Sure," Trish replied, "We have nowhere else to go." Dez and Ally both nodded in affirmation, so the quartet made its way through the empty streets and winding roads back to Austin's house.

"Hey, Ally, Austin?" she spoke suddenly.

"Yeah?" they chorused, giving each other side glances.

"When Dez and I broke in—uh—I mean, came to visit you, you guys were singing a song – which song was it? It was really good, but I've never heard it before."

Austin and Ally exchanged glances, wondering if they should tell. "Well—I wrote it," Ally said slowly, "I'm a songwriter."

"Really?" Dez asked, "So does that mean you, like, write songs?"

Trish rolled her eyes.

"Ignore him, ladies and gents," Trish sighed, "he had little too much sugar in his _Corn Flakes_ his morning. But, Ally, you're actually pretty decent. If that was a real song I'd totally buy it!"

Austin and Ally exchanged looks: if Trish, one of the bluntest people they knew, had just admitted that she not only liked their original song, but would be willing to pay for it, then maybe being musical partners wasn't such a farfetched dream after all. "Really, Trish?" Austin asked, not wanting to get his hopes up.

"Would I lie to you?" Trish turned to face Austin who raised an eyebrow at her. "Okay—don\t answer that—what's important is that I'm not lying to you now. It's good."

"Austin and I were going to be musical partners," Ally blurted out. Trish turned around and stared at Austin and Ally, her eyes are wide as saucers. "Since we've both always wanted to be musicians and I like song writing but I have insane stage fright, and he has no song writing muse, and he lives for the crowd—we thought, 'why not?'."

"When did you decide all this?" Dez asked, "It sounds like you've been planning this for years."

"This morning," Austin mumbled, "after we realized that what we couldn't do on our own, we could do together." Ally grinned at him and he smiled back.

"I'm going to be your manager," Trish declared suddenly, startling them out of their reverie.

"_What?" _they had all stopped walking by now, and Austin and Ally both faced Trish, wondering if she was joking—it was one thing for Trish to be interested in, or even supportive of their endeavors, it was another thing entirely to be interested in joining in, like she seemed to be now.

"You heard me: I'm going to be your manager—oh, don't look so scared, Moon," Trish said with an impatient wave of her hand. "I'll manage the gigs and stuff – think about how many places I've worked at, I have connections, guys."

Austin paused, mulling the thought over in his head.

"Sure, why not," Ally sighed after some time.

"And I'm going to be the Music Video director," Dez said, "I have a great idea for your next video involving chimpanzees, cough syrup, and seventy-seven African elephants learning the Samba."

No one responded to that.

As they walked to Austin's house, Trish and Austin arguing about something only they cared about and Dez still going on about his music video directing skills, despite the fact that no one was listening, Ally grinned to herself. Maybe she would get through this breakup, maybe it wouldn't be so bad, and even if it was . . . she knew that her friends would stand by her.

It was like that 80s song – _I will survive / and as long as you're not with me / I know I'm still alive / I've got all my life to live / I've got all my love to give / and I will survive / I will survive_.

She sang that song under her breath as she walked; it gave her courage.

.

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**Austin**

Austin pulled open the door, calling out into the large, cavernous house, "Hello? Anyone home?" His friends were all crowded behind him, one foot outside and one foot inside, as he called for his parents.

"We're in the kitchen, dear," his mother called from somewhere in the depths of the house, Austin nodded, waving his friends inside with a hand, while holding his guitar with the other.

"Here, let me help," Ally said with a smile, taking the guitar from his hands. As usual, when their hands connected a spark seemed to leap from her skin to his, bubbling up inside him. He mouthed, _thanks_, and she nodded her head.

"Hello, Dez, Trish," Stephanie Moon said with her usual generous smile. Ally frowned; she could see Austin in her features – her thick, blonde hair; her easygoing smile; her regal cheekbones. This woman was a female Austin Moon in the future, and for some reason, Ally felt the need to prove herself to that woman – like if she did, then Austin would like her more.

"Hello, Ally, dear," Stephanie said, giving Ally a smile that could only be described as 100% Austin Moon. She smiled back.

"Hello, Mrs. Moon," she said with a smile.

"Call me Stephanie, dear," Mrs. Moon's lips curved upwards, as if she was already planning the wedding. Austin shot his mother a dirty look, telling her to cool down telepathically – she obviously didn't get the hint, however.

"We're just here to drop off my guitar," Austin said hurriedly, "and then we're going out—all _four_ of us." He stressed the 'four' so his mother didn't get any ideas about him and Ally . . . alone . . . on a date. . .

"Well – Ally, Trish, Dez – why don't you come into the living room for a quick snack and I'll tell you about the time Austin was four and he—"

"_Mom!"_ he said hurriedly, "I really don't think they want to hear that!"

"Actually," said Trish, smirking devilishly, "I would very much love to hear this story!"

"So would I," Ally said, grinning at him, "Lead the way, Mrs. Moon."

"_Ally_—" Austin protested. Was the whole world against him?

"What?" she asked with a smile that was too innocent.

"I thought you were on my side!" he sighed. Her dancing eyes caught his and she grinned.

"Nope," she smirked and she followed his mother into the living room.

Sighing, Austin wandered back to his room upstairs. He could hear occasional bursts of laughter coming from downstairs, and his cheeks flamed red at the things that his mother was telling his friends – was telling Ally. Speaking of Ally, she'd seemed almost unaffected by her breakup with Dallas, but he knew that she must have been cracking under the strain —

His hands unconsciously gripped the guitar strings so hard that two snapped, and as he rummaged in his closet for new ones, thoughts of the breakup flared up in his mind – Dallas accusing Ally of cheating; Dallas calling Ally a bitch; Ally's posture after the video call; how right it felt when she was in his arms. But no, he wouldn't allow himself to think like that—just because she'd broken up with her idiotic boyfriend didn't mean she wanted another, and he wouldn't do that to her.

"Austin?" Speak of the devil, Ally, was in his room, looking at a few of his track and field medals.

"Yeah?" He straightened up, dusting his shorts off. "Oh—hey, Ally. I thought you were listening to the embarrassing stories my mother was telling"—his sentence was punctured by another round of laughter from the living room — "Trish is so going to rub this in my face," he groaned.

Ally smiled at him, "I did listen—the story about you in the bath was hilarious; you sounded like such an adorable little kid – what happened?"

He mock-glared at her, throwing a spare football shaped pillow at her, which she dodged with relative ease, "Ally, are you okay?" She froze for a moment, and then plastered a smile on that was false to the brim.

"Of course I am; why do you ask?" Her voice was bright and chipper—too chipper and her smile was reminiscent of the Joker's. In three steps, he fluidly crossed the room, and stood in front of Ally. "Really, Austin, I'm fine." The daisy chain crown was still on her head, lopsided, and it reminded him of earlier today, of chasing this amazing girl. It seemed like a completely different world.

"You're not, Ally – you're not," he said, and he grabbed her hand as a reflex. There was no time to feel embarrassed, and she leaned in to him like it was natural. "But I'll be here – no, _we'll_ be here for you all the way. You aren't getting rid of us that easily."

She smiled into his chest, her mouth right where his heart was, thumping away like there was no tomorrow, and he realized that there was nothing more than him and Ally, right here, right now. But he wouldn't—he _couldn't_ do that to her, and so he pulled away. "I know, Austin, really, I'm fine," her smile was a lot more genuine now, but not her usual 1000 watt smile.

"We should go to a movie," he found himself saying, a smile curling across his face, "a comedy, like – the _Hangover_ _II_, or something."

"_Project_ _X_," she grins up at him_. Breathe in, breathe out_, he has to remind himself. "It's supposed to be, like, the ultimate movie. It's a mockumentary about these kids that throw a wild party – like, SWAT team involved, wild."

"Sure, why not?" he countered with a grin, "Now let's go get Dez and Trish before my mother tells them about the time I—"

"The time you what?" she probed, giving him a roguish grin.

"—never mind," he said hastily.

.

"Pick us up at ten, mom, dad!" Austin called as the sleek, silver SUV pulled away from the theatre. The foursome walked into the theatre, laughing and joking around. Austin ran his hand through his formerly neat hair, making it messier than it was, as he listened to Trish laugh about a 'funny' story about him, a goose, and a silver van that his mother had told him. "I was _four_, Trish—"

"Actually, according to your mother, you were _eight_," Trish retorted, rolling her eyes.

"You were so cute," Ally said with a small giggle. "These stories your mom told us—they'd make really good tell-all books, you know?"

"Oh, shut up, both of you," Austin grumbled, shooting them dirty looks.

"Face it, man," Dez said, taking a huge bite out of the stick of black licorice he'd stashed in his pocket, "you had a very embarrassing childhood." Austin gave Dez a wounded look.

"Come on, Dez, I thought you of all people wouldn't tease me!"

"It's comedy gold," Dez said with a shrug. Austin threw an M&M at his friend, and Dez managed to catch it in his mouth, chuckling. Austin threw his hands up.

"I can't believe you guys," he mumbled. Ally patted his back comfortingly, and the warmth of her hand made the hot June evening seem even hotter.

"What will you be seeing this evening, ladies and gentlemen?" the teenager at the ticket box asked, looking bored out of her mind. Austin couldn't blame her; he would hate to spend his evening catering to bratty teens.

"Four tickets to _Project X_, please," Trish said with a confident smile. They all paid for their tickets and continued into the theatre, stopping to buy popcorn, drinks, and various snack foods that would keep them hyper for hours. "I heard from Cassidy Nelson that this movie is so awesome."

"Cassidy Nelson?" Austin repeated, raising a blonde eyebrow. "She says that anything is, _quote_ _unquote_ 'like, totally awesome!'." Dez and Trish both laughed at this, but Ally was silent, and when he covertly glanced at her—well, at least, he _hoped_ it was covert—her expression was thoughtful – like she was a million miles away from Florida and the theatre and them.

"If I remember correctly—which I do—you used to like Cassidy," Trish pointed out once the main laughter had subsided. Austin blushed; he really didn't want Ally to know about his former crushes – would she look hurt? Annoyed? Or would she be cavalier about it, because she didn't like him back?

"I was young," he huffed.

"That was last year!" Dez added in. Austin shot him a filthy look.

"Can we just go inside now?" Ally interrupted the upcoming fight with a roll of her eyes. "The movie is going to start soon—we can argue about Austin's stupid crush later." And she walked into the theatre without a single glance back. Austin stared after her, thinking – did she sound . . . almost _jealous_? . . . but she _couldn't_ be. . .

"Come on, Lover Boy," Trish hissed, loudly enough for the entire universe to hear, "Let's go." Austin swatted her arm away and followed Dez and Trish into the theatre, thoughts of Ally and her soft hair and pink lips and beautiful voice.

"Let's sit here," Trish said, pointing to a row of seats at the back. She got into the row, quickly followed by Dez and Ally, which meant that he'd spend an hour and a half sitting next to Ally.

"Austin," Ally hissed into his ear, her breath cool on his neck. His heart began pounding so loudly he wondered if everyone in the theatre—everyone in the entire universe—could hear it.

"Yeah?" he breathed back, trying to keep his voice neutral.

"Thanks. You know, for being such an amazing friend and partner—music partner—and I just want to say that I had an amazing time at the crevasse today, and your mom is the best," she replied, giving him a grin that almost made his heart stop.

And in the darkness of the crowded Miami theatre, watching a movie about the teen party of the year, she grabbed his hand. Even though there were dozens of other people in the theatre; even though the movie they were watching was the most unromantic film since _Love and Other Drugs_; even though his hands were slick with sweat; even though she'd just broken up with her boyfriend and he was fighting feelings for her; even though girls like her and boys like him couldn't – shouldn't – fall for each other, in that one moment, it was perfect.

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"Mom, dad—can I ask you a very important question?" If you'd told Austin, even a month ago, that he'd be going to his parents for girl advice—well, he'd have laughed and made some comment about how the girls lined up to be with him, but Ally was different. She was quiet and loud, silly and serious, not to mention she was the only one who loved music as much as he did. She was everything he'd ever wanted in a girl – and she knew all of _Panic! At the Disco's_ songs.

"Sure, son," Norman said, looking up from his sports magazine at his son, "Do you need any help?"

"Are you in any trouble?" Stephanie asked, always jumping to the worst possible conclusion. "Do we need to call Uncle Joe —?"

"No—it's, well, girl advice," Austin mumbled, wishing he'd just kept his trap shut – but who else could he talk to? Trish would make fun of him mercilessly, Dez would probably end up blurting it out to Ally, and the majority of his other friends either wouldn't understand, or were on vacation and he needed answers _now_.

Stephanie squealed, clapping her hands, "My little boy's a man!"

"_Mom_," Austin muttered, halfway between a groan and a hiss, "it's not like that! It's not like I'm going to marry her or something! Dad, tell her to calm down!"

"Steph," Norman said in a soothing voice, "let's listen to what Austin has to say before you start planning the wedding, okay?" Austin shot his dad a grateful look.

"Okay, okay, sorry, I'm just so excited—"

"I know, mom. I know," Austin said with a sigh, running his hand through his hair.

"What did you want to talk to us about, son? Do we need to have _The Talk_ with you again?" Norman asked warily. Austin yelped, stepping backwards.

"No! _No! God, no_! I just need . . . advice."

"Speak, honey, we're listening," Stephanie said, sending a warm smile towards her only child.

"How do you know if a girl likes you?" he asked, his face turning crimson – he couldn't believe he'd stooped to talking to his parents, but what had to be done had to be done, he supposed.

"Because what if she's sending mixed signals, like, one moment she's holding your hand and the next, she's leaning as far away from you as she possibly can, and you're just so confused, because you can't come out and tell her because it could ruin your friendship, and—" he stopped himself before he revealed too much.

"Why, son? Have a crush?" Norman said with a chuckle.

"N—no," Austin lied, "I just wanted to know."

"This is just like when I liked your father, you know," Stephanie said, a thoughtful expression clouding her features. "But I was scared to like him, so every time I showed him any sign of affection—even something that could be considered as strictly platonic—I always pulled away and ended up giving him the wrong vibe because I didn't want him to know."

"Really?" Austin asked, his face warming: this could mean that Ally liked him. Ally Dawson, the girl he'd slowly but surely developed a crush on these past few weeks, was beginning to like him, too. "What was so wrong about showing dad any emotion?"

"Because I was dating his brother," Stephanie said in a matter-of-fact voice.

"_Uncle Teddy_?" Austin repeated, his expression morphing into one of pure shock. "But—"

"That's enough, Stephanie, son," Norman quieted them with a glare, "I think he's gotten the point."

"I have," Austin said, nodding, "Mom and Ally are—"

"_Wait!_ Ally's the girl you are crushing on? _No_ _way!_ I knew it, didn't I, Norm? _I knew it!_" Stephanie squealed so loudly that Austin wondered why the windowpanes didn't fall off. She grabbed her son and pulled him into a bone crushing hug. "We have to invite her for dinner – and her father, too—we might as well make them feel like a part of the family — "

"Honey?" Norman interrupted on behalf of his son, "it's a silly crush—it's not like they're engaged or anything."

"Not _yet_, Norm," Stephanie said with a tearful smile, "but never say never."

Austin left the study quickly after that, the thought of is parents secretly falling in love while her mother was dating his uncle filling his mind. It was, truly, a messed up world.

"Well," he said to his mirror reflection as he brushed his teeth, "if there's one thing I learned from that, it's to never, ever, under any circumstances, ask your parents for advice on relationships. Oh yeah, and I also learned that girls are weird when it comes to crush signals."

He turned off the bathroom light and plodded to his room where his iPhone was vibrating with a new text.

**1 New Message(s) from:**

Ally D.

_Goodnite, Austin! C U at work? XOX —A_

He smiled to himself as he read the note again; yep, girls were definitely weird. It was easier when they had cooties. But then he remembered the warm feeling of her hand entwined with his and he fell asleep thinking of her.

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**author's note ii:** please don't favourite or alert without reviewing, thanks, as it's super annoying! By the way, Cassidy may or may not show up in the story, but if she does, she won't be an antagonist, \cause I've already played that card with Dallas.

I hope you liked the chapter!

Until next time,

- Madeline (_overstreets_)


	8. interlude i: dez

**author's note:** I really don't have any excuse for not updating except for the fact that I'm lazy and that I was working on Love Songs and other stories, so. We've reached about halfway trough the story and while this is quite exciting, it's also very bittersweet … and the chapters were getting a little UST filled, so … here's the interlude! You're going to hate me by the end of the chapter.

Because I've been spending a lot of time with Austin and Ally, I have kind of been ignoring Dez and Trish and this chapter will make up for it, in my opinion. :) Basically, it's an interlude chapter in Dez's POV. There'll be another one closer to the end in Trish's point of view so we can see what's really going on in their heads — so enjoy the interlude, narrated by Dez, (His last name in this story is Murphy, by the way.)

Thank you for all the reviews in the last chapter! I really _really_ hope to get to at least 150 by the time this story is over so every review counts.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Austin & Ally, obviously; I also don't own the quote at the beginning,

(Remember, this is FIRST person.)

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INTERLUDE I: DEZ — KISSES AND MISSES

_"To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never, to forget."_

_— _**Arundhati Roy**

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**Dez.**

Austin and Ally definitely like each other. I know that, Trish knows that, the Moons know that, Lester Dawson knows that . . . almost everyone in the world knows that except for them, apparently. Sometimes when we all go out, people compliment them on what a good-looking couple they are but they don't even —

Ooh, I smell hotdogs! Oh, wait, Trish says that I shouldn't change the subject abruptly like that. Sorry —

But the hotdog just smells so good . . . I bet you're jealous, aren't you? Mmm, I love hotdogs with onions and ketchup and mustard and anything, really. I just love hotdogs in general. Trish says it's because I look like I belong in a circus, but she's joking — at least, I hopes she is.

Er — right; what was I talking about? Oh, right. I'm definitely Team Auslly — I even bought a t-shirt! If only they'd finally get together so I could wear it out in public. Of course, Austin always claims that Ally is "just a friend" but the way he looks at her . . . they are definitely more or they want to definitely more.

"Yo, ginger, are you going to sit there all day?" A voice snapped me out of my very interesting musings. I sighed: Trish. Trish is kind of my friend, sometimes. It's strange; one moment she'll be almost . . . nice and normal, and the next she'll be her evil self again. Girls in general are weird. "Oh great, are you talking to the voice inside your head again?"

My face turned red. "No—of course not! I'm trying to communicate with the dog telepathically." This wasn't a complete lie; I mean, it had been done before, I saw it on an ABC Family special and I've been trying it ever since. I guess there may be something wrong with our dog, though no matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to reach him.

"You totally are!" she says with a laugh, running a hand through her messy brown curls. I stared at her. It just occurred to me that it was eight in the morning. And she was in my room.

" . . . wait, how did you get in here?" I asked her. She laughed.

"Took you long enough!" Sometimes Trish was the most infuriating being on the planet — and all of the other planets too, I suppose. Unless there's a Trish in every planet. Wait, does that mean that there'd also be another me on every planet? That'd be kind of cool . . . but also really creepy — "Uh, ginger. No zoning out?" Oh, right.

"And weren't you supposed to work today?" I asked her, hoping that she'd take the hint and leave. Unfortunately, the odds did not seem to be in my favour (okay, I've read the Hunger Games — sue me) and she just laughed again like I was stupid or something.

"Yeah, what's your point?" I suppose that I should have expected that she'd say something like that. But this isn't her usual devious smirk; there's a bit more to it — and I've known Trish long enough (and been pranked by Trish long enough) to know that she's planning something.

I just hope that she doesn't attempt to sell me to a British couple again . . .

"Trish . . . " I said cautiously. The light that gleamed in her eyes was staring to scare me. "Are you, um, okay?"

"Yes, Dezmond, I'm fine," the tone of her voice was way too innocent to be genuine and that scared me more than anything. Regular, evil Trish = bad; innocent sounding Trish = even worse. "But we're going on a little spying adventure." I like spying!

"On who?" I asked her. The gleam in her eyes, if possible, got even brighter. She kind of looked pretty when she was conniving — but if anyone ever finds out that I said that, I'll deny it.

"Our dearest Austin Moon and Allyson Dawson, Music Partners, and people who obviously like each other but are too big wimps to actually do anything about it . . . "

"You're an Auslly shipper too!" I said with a loud whoop. "I knew I wasn't alone! Do you want me to make you a Team Ausllly t-shirt? And you can also join my tumblr: .com! We're having our first of many biweekly meetings next week if you're interested—"

"Dez," Trish said with a laugh. "Dez—calm down. I think anyone with eyes knows that Auslly is so on." She must have noticed the slightly disappointed look on my face because she quickly added, "But I'll buy one of your stupid t-shirts if it'll make you happy, okay?" I grinned at her.

"So about this spying thing . . . "

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I, Dez Murphy, was a ninja. Like Jackie Change or Bruce Lee or something; you see, Trish and I were on a very important mission. We were going to sneak into Sonic Boom and spy on Austin and Ally. "Because we all know that they like each other," Trish had told me, "And because I don't feel like working and they're busy so I'm bored. And the spy kits that I ordered from my four day stint in _Spyglass_ are here and I want to break them in."

I decided to join her (read: she forced me into joining her) and we'd headed off towards the mall together, dressed in stealthy black suits. Well, I was. Trish had looked at me like I was insane when I suggested it, so I quickly gave up on her but donned the costume myself. After all, if we were going to spy on my best friend, I had to be dressed the part.

"Come on, Dez, and take off those dumb clown shoes otherwise they'll hear us!" Trish hissed at me the second we got into the mall.

I decided against telling her that Sonic Boom was at the other end of the mall. And downstairs. "Okay," I said, trying not to roll my eyes. "And how exactly are we going to pull this off?"

"I stayed up last night watching spy movies," she began, "and I came up with an amazing plan: I'd use this grappling hook and a rope to tie it around that pole over there and we'd swing over to that pole. Once there, we'd shimmy up and I'd use the smoke bombs to distract the cops so we could crawl in the vent and use the maps that you would have stolen from the guards to find exactly where Sonic Boom is located—"

"Or," I interrupted her, a bit fearful of what she might say to me. "We could just plant one of those antenna thingys in the store and listen to what they're saying. Or even use that special camera to take pictures from that bench right across from Sonic Boom."

She tapped her chin, thinking hard. "That's a horrible idea, Dez! Now, on the other hand, we could take the camera and hide across the hall from Sonic Boom and take pictures of them."

"That's a great idea!" I said enthusiastically. "I wonder why I didn't think of it!" Luckily I had Trish to help me come up with plans — I don't know what I'd do without her. Trish smirked.

"Okay, it's a go!"

Five minutes later and the plan was set in motion—both Austin and Ally were in the store; she sitting at the piano, he was at the counter. There were a few customers in the store, but no one looked in a hurry to buy anything. "I've always wanted to play the tuba," I commented as I watched a middle aged man with a receding hairline ask for the price of the tuba.

"Pay attention, Dez," Trish said, rolling her eyes, but a smile made its way across her face. "Either way, I wouldn't trust you with any heavy metal instrument."

I scoffed. "Just because I got stuck in a tuba when we went to go see—"

"Dez," she said slowly, enunciating every syllable, "how did you even get in that tuba? We were on the balcony. And the tuba player was playing at the time — one moment you were there; the next, Austin was asking if you'd gone to the bathroom!"

I shrugged. "I'm a man of many talents, Trish. You've got to respect that." Trish rolled her eyes again; she seemed to do that a lot around me, I don't know why, though.

"Oh my God!" Trish squealed, almost loudly enough for the universe to hear us—and unfortunately, Austin and Ally were part of the universe too—I kicked her to shut her up. Not because I wanted to or anything. Really. _Really_. But she didn't seem to notice, and kept her eyes trained on the store. "Total Auslly moment!"

I snapped my eyes up: this could have some valuable information for the tumblr, after all I had promised its very faithful members (read: Mrs. Moon) that I'd give them any and all updates . . .

They were sitting at the piano, a little too close for people that were supposed to be best friends. Even I, who Trish called oblivious on daily basis (although I don't know why she'd call me a spell in Harry Potter) could see the way that Ally unconsciously leaned into him.

Move out of the way, Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield; Will and Kate, there's a new couple in town and they're here to stay. Well, they would be if they just kissed. Like those Disney princess films . . . which . . . I . . . uh . . . totally haven't seen before . . . back to Austin and Ally—

"This is an amazing song," Austin said; they'd just finished singing another song while I was zoned out, presumably a duet, written by Ally herself. Ally blushed, although Austin complimented her all the time.

"You're just an amazing singer," Ally said modestly, averting her eyes from Austin's gaze. "You're just an amazing person, Austin."

And then she was leaning in and he was leaning in too and I could practically feel Trish vibrating with excitement beside me because Auslly was just about to become canon and someone had better grab a camera; I held my breath, Trish held her breath, and millions of miles away, the Dez's and Trish's of other planets were also probably holding their breaths—

Ally pulled away; well, not exactly pulled, but shifted ever so slightly so that his lips grazed her cheek instead. What had just happened? Well, for one, Ally had rejected the kiss that she had started. And Austin, on the other hand, had a look of pure disappointment on his face but it was gone in a flash. He would pretend that he had meant to kiss her on the cheek.

"No_, no, no, no, NO, NO_, _NONONONO!"_ Trish was groaning. "They could have . . . they almost . . . kissed . . . " She was almost incoherent. I patted her on the back awkwardly; there was one thing that school never taught you—how to deal with emotionally unstable girls. (But if Trish ever hears this, you're not emotionally unstable so please don't hurt me.)

I had no clue what to do. "It's going to be okay? There's always next time?" I tried some of the lines from sappy movies that I had not watched at all . . . um . . .

She glared at me that it was _my_ fault that the kiss was a miss, "You are so oblivious, Dez! He's not going to try to kiss her again! That was a huge blow to his ego and he's not going to risk getting rejected again!"

With an angry huff, she stormed away from me. "O . . . kay," I muttered to myself. She was my ride home.

I went to the food court for a chilli-dog.

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I went home with only one thought on my mind, which I texted to Austin: _girls r weird_. I wanted to console him about Ally, but I really had nothing to say. And, we weren't meant to see that anyway.

He responded with an _i know_ and I almost felt sorry for the guy, after all he and Trish and myself and practically the whole world thought that there was going to be a kiss—

Oh wait, Kangaroo Hunter is on right now! I guess I'll see you later then! Wait . . . where did I put the licorice? You don't mind showing yourself out, do you? I just can't miss Kangaroo Hunter. Last week's episode: absolutely heartbreaking, to tell you the truth.

Anyway, this is Dezmond—okay, seriously, it's not that funny; no really, stop laughing—this is Dez Murphy, signing off.

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**author's note ii**: I am evil, I know. But the magic moment is coming up soon**. **I hope that I didn't butcher Dez too badly and that this chapter met your expectations with the Trez and secret!Auslly! It's a bit shorter than the other chapters and a bit sporadic but that's Dez, isn't it? Anyway, tell me your opinions in a review, thank you.

Also, check out the austially prompts tumblr at .com for story ideas, both canon and AU.

And, Joyce (cascading rainbows) and I are working on the Austin & Ally fandom's first official Auslly awards so stay posted for more information.

Don't alert/favourite without reviewing.

- Maddie (_overstreets_)


	9. vii

**a/n:** I know, I know, I'm evil for abandoning this story but at least the hiatus has provided in adding some inspiration. Anyway, blame school. Um btw updates may not be frequent since I was stupid enough to take two sciences in one semester along with English of all subjects so homework galore, yay!

Anyway, this chapter killed me. KILLED ME. ;) (Almost as much as Elliot because OMG it's Mike)

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything otherwise Auslly would have been canon since Day 1.

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Chapter Seven: Fan-clubs and First Kisses

_i'm not perfect, but i keep trying / 'cause that's what i said i would do from the start / i'm not alive if i'm lonely, so please don't leave / was it something i said or just my personality?  
_- **Hedley**, **_Perfect_**

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**Ally**.

It had been exactly seven days, 168 hours, 604 000 seconds until the kiss—or lack thereof, and she could not stand another moment of the awkwardness that had developed between her and Austin.

Okay, _okay_—sure, it was her fault, but still. She had not thought that the situation would reach such dire levels as this. In that one week, everything had changed between the two.

It wasn't something extremely noticeable; they still talked, they still worked in Sonic Boom together, but Austin avoided any and all physical contact with her. Whenever they went to Dairy Queen, he now sat at the opposite end of the booth and refused to meet her eye. There was an impermeable frostiness between the two—both knew that they'd have to talk about it eventually, but they were postponing the inevitable as much as possible.

Picking at her breakfast (which ironically happened to be pancakes), she wonders briefly if Trish and Dez know what's happened. They both had been giving her not-so-subtle looks lately, and Trish, who was usually the nosiest person on the planet, hadn't asked her what was going on.

"Honey, are you okay?" her dad's concerned voice broke through the fog that was her mind. "You've been looking upset for the last week, dear."

Ally plasters on a fake smile, "I'm fine, dad."

"Do you want to talk to your mother?" her dad asks, still looking skeptical on whether or not Ally was really okay. "Because I think she's able to deal with, uh, teen issues better than I am."

Ally sighs at the thought of her mother and California, all the way across the country. She remembers, as if in another life, not wanting to come here—now she didn't know if she could ever leave. Despite the awkwardness between her and Austin, the three Miami teens had become Ally's closest friends. Somehow, they'd managed to break down the walls that even she hadn't known existed.

Lester Dawson studies his daughter's gloomy face, "Is that it, dear? Do you want to go home?"

Ally almost chokes at that—_hell no_. She was already dreading that in a month and a half, she would be saying goodbye to Trish, Dez . . . and Austin. . . possibly to not see them for at least another _year_. She couldn't leave _now_! "_No, dad_!" she shouts, the force of it rattling the dirty mugs in the sink. "I—I'm fine. I have to go to work, daddy."

Lester sighs as his daughter hurriedly departs; this girl in front of him—this _woman_—his daughter was not fine in the slightest; he realizes with a sickening jolt that he does not actually understand her (or the teenage brain) at all.

Ally is upstairs, trying to find her phone. Her mind, once again, is on Austin and for the billionth time, she chides herself but can't force her mind to turn away. "Why do I keep thinking about him?" she murmurs to herself—why couldn't she get him off her mind? It was as if there was a perennial melody in her mind of_ Austin and Ally and Austin&Ally_, and—

"Keep thinking about who?" asks a voice from her doorway.

Ally shrieks and nearly kills herself when she drops her partially full suitcase on herself. Then she nearly kills Dez and Trish. They are standing in the doorway, an unstoppable duo. She idly realizes that the only way out of her room is through the window now. Too bad she's afraid of heights.

"My—my mom," Ally lies. She's a horrible liar, she knows, but this is one of those life and death situations. "She—she sent me a voicemail and I miss her. Not enough to go home, of course." She adds the last part for the benefit of her dad, in case he had sent Trish and Dez to spy on her.

"Ally, Ally, Ally—don't lie to me. First, you're a horrible liar. Second, I know that you were thinking about Austin, and third, you're a horrible liar."

Ally's face is bright red, "I was not—"

"Ally, not to sound creepy but we stood here for a while and you kept on muttering 'Austin', and we know why," Dez says, looking at her dead in the eye.

"How did you—?" Ally asks, about to question how Trish manages to break into her house on an almost daily basis.

"I cannot reveal my secrets," the aforementioned grins, twirling a finger around her dark curls.

"Okay," she motions for her two friends to come in and she quickly snaps the door shut. "Whatever I say in here must _never_ leave this room, on pain of death."

She catches the eyes of Dez and Trish and holds them until they waver. "Promise," they both chorus dutifully.

"Austin and I almost kissed last week," she says, pausing for expected surprise. Instead, she finds Dez and Trish smirking at each other. "_Oh my God! You knew_! The whole time you knew and you didn't tell me!" She's yelling now and her voice is raw from all the yelling she's done so far but she can't quell the sense of betrayal that she feels that her two best friends knew and didn't tell.

"I can't believe you! You two broke my trust! How can you—?" she is overreacting a little bit, but she just has to let out all the confusion and animosity out somehow and they seem like the perfect target. It's not exactly that she was angry, but rather that they had seen something she hadn't intended for.

That day, she and Austin had connected like never before. Nerve endings were crackling with electricity and they had permanent smiles fixed on their faces. She had wanted to kiss Austin, really bad. So why didn't she? The question brought short her rant.

"I'm sorry for not telling you," Dez mutters, "Trish threatened my gingerbread men."

"I'm sorry too, Ally," Trish had an uncharacteristic look of guilt on her face, "I knew it was wrong, but—"

"It's okay," Ally sighs, plopping down on the bed. "I may have overreacted a bit. It's just, there's been so much going on between Austin and I and I'm just so _confused_."

"There's nothing confusing about it, Ally. And trust me, I find everything confusing. You like Austin—I know, you know, the Auslly fan club knows—" Dez says wisely before stopping short.

"The what?" There is a dangerous glint in Ally's eye.

"Nothing," Dez rushes on quickly. "The point is—you like Austin, you're just too scared to admit it because you don't want it to harm your friendship dynamic."

When he's done speaking, he realizes that both Trish and Ally are staring at him with incredulous looks. His face turns red to match his hair, and Ally lets out a heavy breath.

"Wow, Ginger, when did you become so perceptive?" Trish asks, staring at Dez with a questioning glance. "Anyway, whatever. Boy said it right, Ally."

"I don't like Austin—" Ally feebly protests but she knows it's over. When Dez had uttered the words 'You like Austin,' suddenly the weight on her chest had been lifted—even the blue sky outside seemed to have gotten brighter.

"What's wrong with liking Austin?" Trish asks, "A lot of girls do—"

"Exactly!" Ally interrupted, "Exactly! Last time I dated a guy like Austin, he turned out to be a total jerk. Austin deserves someone who's prettier than I am and funnier and—" she can't seem to stop speaking but the words just tumble out; every false hope, every insecurity. "—I just can't go through this again; every morning I'd wake up and hope Dallas would actually notice me today. Of course, he never would with all the girls throwing themselves at him. If I lived here, Austin probably wouldn't notice me at all—"

"Is that what you think?" a new voice asks, horrified, from the doorway. All the blood in Ally's face drains out at that because even without looking up at that she knows who it is—the same person who had become her greatest confidant and best friend.

The first thought she has when she glances up and meets Austin's shocked gaze is that _damn, he looks good today_. The second thought is embarrassment—now was _not_ the time to be checking out Austin. The third thought goes somewhere on the lines of _please, kill me now_.

"I think this is our cue," Trish mutters, yanking on Dez's arm and pulling him out of the room.

Ally is torn between wanting to run with them and wanting to stay.

Austin still hasn't moved, "Ally, is that really what you think?" His hair is almost impossible to look at in this morning sunlight and his eyes are imperceptible.

"N—no, of course not," she lies.

"Ally," he cracks a smile for the first time since he's walked in, "Don't. You are a horrible liar." She can't help but smile back at him and it's like the last week had never happened. And then he mutters, "Seriously, Ally, is that what you think?"

"Well . . . yes," she mutters this so quietly that he has to lean in to hear her. It briefly occurs to him that they're sharing breaths now and he could just reach up and kiss her within seconds. The feeling makes his heart pound so loudly he wonders if the whole universe can hear it. "But it's okay, it's just a schoolgirl crush—it won't affect our friendship." She sends a hesitant smile at Austin.

"Ally," Austin says seriously, "I don't know where you ever got the idea that there's someone else out there that's better for me because _you're_ it."

Before she can protest, he puts all the unsaid words and feelings into a kiss.

.

* * *

**Austin**

He pulls away after a second to look at her reaction. It's obvious that she's felt the fireworks too. Both of them are breathing heavily, although they kissed for only a moment.

He gives her a small smile and gently holds her hand. His eyes are telling stories that his lips could never utter. "Ally, I've liked you since I first met you in Sonic Boom—"

"Really? 'Cause you seemed a bit scared of me," she says with laughter barely hidden in her voice.

"Well I was, but I still liked you— a lot. And I really knew it when we did the duet for _Lucky_, but I didn't admit it to myself until, like, last week." His face is unwavering as he glances at her. Still staring into her eyes, he grabs her hand and intertwines their fingers.

He still feels tingling on his lips because of this kiss. It's like, he's kissed lots of girls before, but this is his first _real_ kiss—the first kiss that left his heart racing out of his chest and his palms sweaty. The first kiss that made the cocky and confident Austin Moon turn into mush.

"I just admitted that I liked you today—well, Dez admitted that I liked you," Ally lets out a breathy laugh.

Austin brushes a stray strand of hair out of her face and suddenly they are both leaning in again. He can smell her minty breath for a second before their lips connect. His heart is pounding with adrenaline and he wonders if it's possible to stay here forever. They break apart for air again, and Ally's brown eyes are bright and adventurous.

"No more kissing, Austin, we have to work—it's already ten." Austin scowls; he's never hated work more.

"But, Ally—" he pleads to no avail, "Just one more for good luck?" Ally sighs and kisses his cheek. Ignoring his mingled yell of protest, she walks out of the room.

The banter between them is as it was before last week, and it's almost like nothing has changed, except everything has.

"Hurry up, Austin!" she calls from downstairs.

He rolls his eyes—only Ally could go from kissing someone to yelling at them in two minutes.

Once again, his heart skips a beat when he thinks of Ally.

. . .

When he gets downstairs, Ally is waiting for him impatiently. "God, Austin, could you be any slower?"

Austin raises an eyebrow, "Challenge accepted." Ally swats him on the arm as he winces. Yep, her smacks _definitely_ hadn't changed. The atmosphere is almost like it usually is the mornings they work, but this time Ally grabs her hands as they're leaving.

"I was thinking," Austin says.

Ally gasps and stares at him with horror, "Oh no! The world _is_ ending!"

He mock glares at her before his face settles into a smile, "No, seriously. Trish booked me to sing at the mall tomorrow, for the Fourth of July celebrations."

"Really?" Ally squeals, "That's amazing! It could be your big break!" Ally jumps up and kisses him on the lips quickly before hugging him. "Do you know what song you were planning to use?"

"Nope," Austin says, popping the 'p'. "That's where I was hoping my beautiful, awesome, amazing, perfect songwriter could come in handy." Ally looks like she's trying not to laugh and it's a losing battle.

"Fine," she says, her lips still twitching, "I'll help you if the store isn't busy, okay?"

"Thanks, Ali-gator," he grins, remembering his nickname. Ally scowls at him.

"I'll come up with an embarrassing one for you, Moon. Just you wait."

"Sure you will," Austin says, smirking at Ally.

"You're right," Ally says, "But I'm sure your mother has many cute nicknames for you . . . what was the one she mentioned? Austin Light-year or was it Moonshine?"

Austin's face goes white as Ally cackles. "You are truly evil, Allyson Dawson, I'm sorry I ever underestimated you." Ally shrugs as they reach the mall, still cracking up every few minutes.

The mall is adorned with an excessive amount of red, white, and blue for the upcoming celebrations, and the tourist and novelty shops seem to be overflowing with business. The mall is packed and by the time they reach Sonic Boom, both of them have nearly been jostled into the garbage can multiple times.

"And I thought California was bad," Ally mutters as she opens up the store. "Well—it _is_ bad, but still."

The two begin turning off the alarms and setting the store up to be ready for customers. About five minutes after they've finished opening the store, a girl with long blonde hair walks into the store, looking around at the instruments, interested.

Austin has the nagging feeling that he knows her from somewhere.

"Excuse me," she says to him, "Do you guys have any—_Austin?!_"

"_Cassidy_?" the both stare, equally shocked and equally horrified at each other. There is a small voice in the back of his mind that remembers that had this been even a month ago, he would have died to have Cassidy here.

"What are you doing here?" they ask again at the same time before laughing.

"Hey, Austin, I got the extra strings from the back," Ally says, holding out the box. She stops short when she sees Cassidy and Austin laughing. She shoots Austin a questioning look. "I'm sorry," she puts the box down; "I'm Ally." She flashes the blonde girl the most charming smile. Austin raises an eyebrow—he was sure that, had it been the other way around and he had come and seen Ally laughing with a random guy, he wouldn't be as friendly.

"So _you're_ the Ally Dawson? I'm Cassidy," the girl says with a small smile.

"How did you—?" Ally begins.

"Know your name?" Cassidy supplies, "Well Dez invited me to his _ausllylovers_ Tumblr and sent me a Team Auslly t-shirt."

Austin rolls his eyes but Ally is laughing, "Nice to meet you, Cassidy. I guess we can give you something to report to the fan club—Auslly is official!"

Cassidy, still laughing, promises to pass the news onto Dez and pays for her strings before leaving.

Ally goes to sit by the piano since there are only a few people milling around the shop and none look like they're ready to pay.

"You know," Austin says, "She was my first crush." He doesn't know why he's said that, or what he expects but Ally just gives him an even look.

"I know, Trish mentioned that."

"You're not jealous?" Austin asks skeptically.

"Do you _want_ me to be jealous?" Ally raises an eyebrow.

"No, of course not."

"I'm not jealous because I know you – I trust that you wouldn't lead me on – and so there's nothing to be jealous of." Ally says this statement so baldly and simply, as if it was a truth that he'd been missing, and suddenly it all clicks.

"You're amazing, Ally," he says, allowing a smile to grace is face for a moment. "I can't believe that there was ever a time that you weren't in my life. It's like, all my life there's been this _emptiness_ and it's finally been filled, you know?"

Ally smiles and leans into Austin and both of them try to forget that there's going to come a day when she has to leave and go back to California and they may not last.

"I don't want to leave you guys," Ally murmurs, her face in his chest.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, okay? For now it's just me and you and we should enjoy the time we have together."

* * *

A/N2 - Reviews make me update faster, hinthint.

- Maddie (overstreets)


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